The Night Fox
by TinyTiger28
Summary: Vigilante/Orphan Deku AU! This is a story where Deku gets orphaned, and then he also ends up getting trained by Stain! But what happens when Deku turns against his master, and decides to become a hero of his own making? Join Deku on a tale full of twists and turns. Full of betrayal, hatred, friendship, and perhaps even... mushy gushy romance stuff? Eh, probably not the last one.
1. Prologue

**Author's** **Note**

Okay, so here's my new story! I hope you like it! VIGILANTE DEKU IS BEST DEKU!

* * *

 _THUNK!_

Deku jolted awake. He could've sworn he had heard something. "Mommy?" He called out, staring into the darkness. He was currently seven years old... and very worried. "Mommy?!" He called again. His eyes were getting used to the low light, and he could now see his room around him.

Still, there was no answer. Deku rolled out of his bed, heart pounding in his throat. He slowly made his way to his door, but before he could even touch the handle of it, it swung open. Behind it stood a tall man. He was dressed in dark clothing, and wearing a strange mask. It seemed to be a surgical mask, but there was a cheshire cat smile drawn on it.

"Hello little boy. What's your quirk?" He asked, his tone dangerously calm.

Deku began to back away. In his haste he tripped over a toy train that he had left on the floor. He was now laying on his back, staring into the eyes of the creepy man. They had no pupils or irises, just white orbs.

"M-Mommy told me not to t-talk to strangers..."Deku stammered. Sweat dripped down his brow.

"Oh, but I'm not a stranger. I'm not strange at all, am I?" The man asked, slowly tilting his head to the side.

Deku gulped. He could list many reasons why this man was strange, but this man didn't seem like one to be trifled with. "N-No." Deku stammered.

"Oh, good! Then, pray tell, what is your quirk?" The man asked.

"I- I.. I don't have o-one." Deku replied, seeming to shrink under the man's gaze. "W-Where's mommy?"

"Ohh. So that means your quirkless? That's just too bad, isn't it?" The man asked. "Well, I guess I came to the right apartment." He slowly drew a knife out of hid pockets.

"P-Please don't hurt me!" Deku yelped, covering his face with his hands. Suddenly a stinging pain erupted in his shoulder. Deku screamed, and ripped his hands away from his face. The man had sliced his shoulder, leaving a cut that was dripping with scarlet red blood.

The man grabbed Deku's uninjured shoulder, pinning him onto the ground. Deku's eyes filled with tears. "Mommy!" He cried. He covered his eyes, shaking.

Suddenly Deku felt the weight on his shoulder leave. He heard a loud humphing sound, as if the breath had been knocked out of someone. He ripped his hands away from his face. He spotted a dark mass in the corner of the room. No, not one mass. Two people.

"Izuku! Honey, run!" His mother called. She was wrestling with the creepy man, and it was clear that she wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

"But- Mommy!" Deku cried.

"Just go!" She shouted.

Deku sniffled. He pivoted around and found an open window, the nearest escape route. He ran towards it, hopping on top of his bed and looking outside it. Under it there was a fire escape, which was just a set precarious stairs nailed to the side of the apartment building. Deku jumped down, making his legs hurt. He heard a scream come from inside.

Deku spun around and saw his mother on the floor. Laying in a puddle of her own blood, with the creepy man standing over her body. Tears fell from his eyes and he turned and darted down the fire escape.

* * *

 **One week later...**

Deku was curled up in a ball. He was currently in a dark alleyway. Rain poured from the night sky, making Deku shiver violently. A loud growl came from his stomach, reminding Deku that he hadn't eaten in a week.

Suddenly he heard footsteps coming his way. Deku cowered, pushing himself against the wall. He covered his face, trying to hide from whoever was coming.

"Hey, kid." An unfamiliar voice said. Someone was shaking Deku's shoulder.

"Eep!" Deku yelped, burying his face in his hands.

"Hey. How old are you?" The man asked. He was wearing a blood red, tattered scarf and headband.

"S-Seven." Deku squeaked quietly.

"Where are your parents?"

"Th-They're gone..."

"Gone?"

"Dead."

"Hm." The man mused. He gave Deku a calculating squint.

"Is that sword for real?" Deku asked, looking suddenly interested.

"Well, it's not a sword. It's a knife." He said. "What's your name anyway?"

"Izuku Midoriya." Deku said nervously. "B-But my friends call me Deku. Well... friends that are also bullies..."

"Friends that are also bullies? They don't sound like very good friends. Why are you out here anyway?"

"Well... a scary man got into my house and mommy told me to... to run away. I did a-and.." Tears filled Deku's eyes. "He had a kn-knife and she- she couldn't stop h-him." Deku began to sob, drenching his sleeve in tears.

"Hey! Hey! Kid!" The man said, shaking Deku's shoulder.

"Yeah?" Deku asked, sniffling.

"Are you hungry? I've got some food at home."

Deku's stomach growled, and he nodded slowly. He dried his tears on his shirt sleeve. "W-Who are you?"

"Well, most people call me Stain, but you can call me Akaguro if you want." Stain said. He slowly scooped up the small child, and walked out of the alleyway, into his prodigy's new life.


	2. Chapter 1

_Thump! Thunk! Bam!_

Deku was training. He had been training under Stain, or, as he knew him, Sensei, for seven years. Stain always had wanted Deku to just call him by his name, Akaguro, but Deku always found it too disrespectful.

It was one of the most important days in the year, well, at least for Deku and Stain. The anniversary of when Stain had found him. Since that fateful day, Stain had taught Deku very much. Aside from battle training and working on his actual schooling, he had taught Deku his philosophy as well. How many heroes were unworthy, and those who truly were heroes did what was right. Not because they wanted compensation, but because they were good people.

Deku had never truly believed that many heroes were actually bad, though there always were a select few that no one people really thought were good people. HE never shared this with Stain. He did, however, believe that villains should be stopped, and that he would become the greatest hero ever.

Usually he and Stain travelled from place to place. At the moment, they were staying in an abandoned warehouse. Stain always would leave Deku alone at night. Deku didn't know exactly what he did, but he assumed that he fought villains. He used to ask Stain why he didn't just become an official hero instead of hiding in the shadows, but he always got the same answer. Some rant about how he had made some mistakes in his life. All Deku got from it was that Stain had broken the law at some point. Eventually, he stopped asking.

Despite being quirkless, Deku had become quite good at fighting. He could eve hold off Stain, but whenever they sparred he could only do it for a few minutes. _Maybe if I could learn to counter his spinning blade attack I could do better. I could-_ Deku's thoughts were interrupted as he heard a door open.

"Hello Sensei!" Deku called cheerfully. He paused his attack against the punching bag to turn his gaze towards Stain.

"Hello Izuku." Stain replied, sounding tired. "You're up early." He observed.

"It's six in the morning. That's pretty late for me." Deku pointed out. "You were out for a while. What held you up?"

"Nothing much. Hey! Did you see the news? There's a new hero around here." Stain replied. Deku frowned, knowing he was dodging the question. He didn't press it though, knowing that Sensei never told him much about his nighttime wanderings anyway.

Deku shook his head. "What're they like?" He asked.

"Oh, you know, just the typical rookie. Name's Starlight or somethin. her quirk lets her make floating barriers. They get stronger when there's stars out."

"Oh, cool!" Deku replied.

The two talked for a bit. Mainly about the usual morning banter, talking about new heroes and villains, world events, stuff like that. Eventually Sensei interrupted the normal flow of conversation to ask Deku, "You do realize what day it is?"

"Uhh, Thursday?"

"Well, exactly seven years ago, I brought you into an abandoned gas station with me."

"Oh! So it's THAT day!" Deku said, surprised he forgot about it. "Completely slipped my mind."

"I have something for you, my pupil." Stain continued. He lifted up a small box. It was pretty plain, just a dirty old cardboard box, but something rattled within it when he moved it. He placed it in front of Deku.

"You got something for me? You really shouldn't have, I'm not worth the effort. Honestly I don't need-"

"Oh, shut your yapping." Stain grumbled. "Just take the gift."

Deku smiled and lifted the lid off of the box. Inside of it was a kitsune mask. It was dark black, with silver detailing. "It's.. beautiful. How did you even-"

"I've had it for a while. Back when I first began fighting crime as a vigilante, I debated wearing it as my mask. I ended up not using it though, and it's been gathering dust ever since, so I thought it was time someone put it to good use."

"Th-Thank you Sensei!" Deku beamed. He marveled at the mask, which was elegantly crafted. It was light, but felt durable, and allowed for a good amount of visibility. The coloring was incredible. Jet black that seemed to swallow up any light that came towards it, and pure silver that shone like a star among the night sky.

"Try it on." Stain urged. Deku nodded, delicately picking up the mask. He put it on his face, carefully tying the ribbon that kept it on. Then, he lifted the hood to the sweatshirt he was wearing and threw it over his head. The hoodie was jet black, with a misty grey detailing on the bottom of it that made it look as if it was on fire. Deku was wearing midnight black jeans, that blended well with the sweatshirt.

"I've also got a belt and some knives. Those should come in handy." Stain said, handing Deku five knives and a belt that could hold them.

Deku blinked, glancing at Stain. Stain smiled, "You look like a real hero, kid." Deku blushed at the praise. "Thank you Sensei, but I haven't done any hero work at all. You know this.."

"Well, then it's about time that you did some, isn't it?" Stain asked, shooting Deku a encouraging smile

"Wait.. does that mean-"

"Exactly. Tonight you're coming with me and fighting some crime." Stain smirked. "Hope you like your first taste of blood, kid."

Deku ignored Stain's strange wording. Of course Sensei would cut his enemies, after all, it was needed for his quirk to work. And of course he would taste the blood, because, after all, it was Sensei, and he needed it for his quirk to work.

"Tonight. Be ready kid." Stain said. Deku nodded excitedly, his brain on overdrive as he tried to figure out good strategies against certain quirks.

Stain turned and walked away from Deku, leaving him to train on his own. "Be ready for your first kill." He muttered to himself.

* * *

"Kid? Kid! Hey, kid!" Stain shouted into the warehouse. He was currently searching out the kid for his mission that night.

Deku snickered quietly. He was sitting on a large storage container, hidden by his dark clothing. He always was pretty good at stealth. Hopping down from the container, he called out, "Right here, Sensei!"

"It's time." Stain replied. Deku's heart leaped into his throat as a mixture of fear and excitement warred in his mind. "Let's go!" He yelped squeakily.

Stain nodded. He exited the warehouse, closely followed by his smaller shadow. Deku was muttering to himself, as he often did. "I wonder what my vigilante name will be. Hmm, probably something mysterious. Maybe.. Mystic Ninja! No, that's stupid. The Silver Rabbit! Wait, my costume doesn't look like a rabbit. Ooh! Maybe I could be-"

"Kid, shut your yap. We gotta be stealthy for this mission. I'm tracking a villain as we speak, and if they hear you they will try to kill you."

"Oh! Sorry Sensei!" Deku apologized.

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep quiet."

A few minutes passed of Deku following Stain, each crouching under shadows and fluidly traveling under the darkness of the night. Suddenly, Stain grabbed Deku's shoulder and gestured to a man. He was wearing armor, and a mask. They seemed to be made up of metal, and there were what seemed to be pipes coming out of the suits elbows. Deku recognized him immediately. _The turbo hero: Ingenium!_ He thought quickly.

They both were on top of a building, looking down on Ingenium. "Okay kid, jump down on my signal." Stain hissed quietly. Deku nodded absentmindedly, but it suddenly occurred to him to wonder why they were jumping down next to a hero.

Before he had time to ask, Stain had dropped silently behind Ingenium. He took his blade and swiftly sliced it across Ingenium's leg. Stain licked the knife, causing Ingenium to freeze in place. Then he turned his gaze to Deku and nodded.

Deku was stunned, but obeyed nonetheless. The minute he hit the ground he began to whisper hysterically. "Why are you attacking a hero?! Ingenium isn't a bad hero! He's a good person and-"

"Kid. Shut up. Ingenium is a fake hero that saves lives only for money. He comes from a wealthy family that doesn't care for human life. They only care about themselves and their fortune. Fake heroes like that deserve to die!"

"B-But Sensei... this doesn't make sense! Even if they deserve it, it is not your place to decide whether or not they die! Much less to murder them! He is saving lives every day, and even if he accepts money for it, he probably has a family to support or- or.." Deku's mind was whirling. _Why would he kill a hero? Why would he kill anyone?!_

"I thought I taught you better than this, Izuku." Stain growled. He shook his head disapprovingly. "Perhaps you aren't ready yet. Nonetheless, it still must be done. Izuku, kill Ingenium."

Deku was stunned. His whole view of his mentor spiraling back and forth, between monster and hero. "I can't kill someone! It's against all of my morals and ethics, and I just- I just can't! It's wrong! Why would you even want me to-" Suddenly, Deku paused. His brow narrowed and he glared accusingly at Stain. "Wait... those heroes going missing lately... and then their bodies found dead... you didn't- did you? But... that doesn't-"

"Kid. What has to be done, has to be done. Now, kill this fake hero!" Stain roared, growing impatient with his pupil.

"No!" Deku screamed. "I would never stoop as low as to take a human life. You of all people should know that! You- Your just as bad as a villain!"

"I don't have time for this.." Stain grumbled under his breath. He raised his blade and prepared to give a final blow to Ingenium's neck. As he brought it downwards, he felt something block it.

Deku glared at Stain, a rage burning in his eyes. He was holding a knife against Stain's blade, stopping it inches away from Ingenium's neck. "I'm sorry Sensei, but I cannot follow as your pupil anymore." He growled, teeth clenches as tears filled his vision. "And I cannot stand idly by as you kill an innocent man."

At that last sentence, Deku grabbed Ingenium. He darted out of the alleyway, closely followed by Stain. Stain was gaining, with his superior speed and Ingenium weighing Deku down, he would catch up to him in a matter of seconds. _C'mon! Think Deku! Think!_ He told himself.

"Police! Police! Help! There's a hero killer! Hero killer!" Deku shouted at the top of his lungs. He saw lights flickering on out of the corner of his eye. Distressed shouts met Deku's ears, when suddenly he felt a hand grab him by the neck.

Deku released Ingenium as Stain's grip tightened on his neck. "My faithful pupil. Betraying me and going right back to the fake heroes." He spat. "I shouldn't have brought you with me. You weren't ready."

"I had to do it, Sensei!" Deku choked out. His vision was getting blurry, and the edges of his sight darkened as if fog was coming towards him. "Sensei... please." He mumbled, pain sparking up his throat.

"Do not worry, my student. No harm shall come to you. I must immobilize you before you do anything too hasty." Stain replied. He grabbed his blade with his free hand and sliced a small cut on Deku's ankle. Lifting the blade to his mouth, Stain stuck out his tongue to lick the blood when something hit him on the back of his head, knocking Deku and the blade out of his hands.

Deku skidded to the side and hit a wall. He turned his gaze back to Stain, who was fighting with Ingenium. 'Ingenium just saved me!' He thought, feeling stunned. But it was clear that Ingenium could not take on this villain, who had more training, strength, and knowledge of Ingenium's quirk, while Ingenium knew almost nothing about Stain. Ingenium's leg wound was doing him no good either.

 _How can I help him?! Should I even help him?_ Deku hesitated for only a moment before screaming, "Police! Police! Hero! Someone, anyone! Ingenium is in trouble!" Out of no where, flames suddenly leapt past Deku's head. They hit Stain, forcing him to stop fighting Ingenium in order to dodge the flames. Deku searched for the person who had just saved Ingenium, and his gaze was met by... Endeavor!

Endeavor's eyes locked with Deku's for only a moment. Suspicion flashed in his eyes, but he ignored Deku as Ingenium shouted for help. Together, the two heroes began to fight Stain. It suddenly occurred to Deku that he was an orphan, most likely presumed dead, who was an accomplice of someone who had attempted to kill Ingenium, and had possibly killed many more heroes. This looked pretty bad. Assuming the two pro heroes could handle Stain, Deku snuck back to the small alleyway and climbed the buildings. From the roof he could see the three fighting.

Stain was now at the disadvantage. He tried split his attention between the two heroes, but Ingenium was so fast that he had to be watched at all times. Whenever Stain was distracted by Ingenium, Endeavor would shoot a blast of flames at him, pushing him closer and close to the wall of apartments behind him.

Just as Stain was pushed completely against the wall, he glared in Deku's direction, then jumped and grabbed the nearest window. He swiftly climbed the apartments, and onto the roof of them. He now stared at his pupil, and his pupil stared back. They were only separated by a street, being on different rooves, but a different kind of barrier was now tearing them apart. A permanent one.

With the last stare, Stain ran away into the night. Deku laid low for a while, and eventually snuck away. He had no where to go, no one to trust, and most likely some police after him, but for some reason, Deku felt more free than he had ever felt before.


	3. Chapter 2

Deku sighed. He was nibbling a granola bar that he stole from an abandoned convenience store. It was a year past the date, and tasted worse than a piece of cardboard soaked in vinegar, but it was the only food he had.

He was leaning against a wall in a small alleyway, where he had taken off his mask and hidden it in the pocket of his hoodie. He had only been without Stain for a week, and had survived pretty well. Deku stayed at an abandoned convenience store, eating old granola bars and out of date candy for most of his time without his teacher.

Suddenly he heard a scream cut through the darkness of the night. "Help!" Deku jumped upwards, his mind racing as he tried to pinpoint where the person was. He subconsciously grabbed the mask in his pocket and tied it to has face, just in case he needed it.

"Help pleas-!" He turned and darted out of the alleyway. He saw a man, being cornered by another man. The first man looked like an average citizen, but the second was wearing a dark green bandana over his face. Large, inky black tentacles that looked as if they were made of shadows came out of his back. One tentacle held the man in the air, and another covered the man's mouth. Yet another tentacle was sorting through the man's pockets, taking his wallet and other belongings.

Before Deku could stop to think, he had charged towards the man. At the last second, he jumped and rammed into the villain. The villain lost his hold on the man and dropped him. He was knocked onto the floor, and Deku attempted to pin him down. The villain's tentacles pushed up from the ground, and he threw Deku off, making him ram into a wall.

The tentacles shot out, wrapping around Deku's neck and lifting him in the air. "You little rat!" The villain hissed, squeezing his neck. Deku choked for air, clawing at the icy cold tentacles wrapping around his neck. _Think Deku! Think!_ He told himself.

He suddenly spotted a strange shimmer on the villain's back. It looked like a black gem of some sort, and all of the tentacles seemed to come directly from the gem. With only a moment of hesitation, Deku ripped a knife out of his belt and threw it at the villain's gem.

Immediately the villain's tentacles disappeared. Staring at the villain's back, Deku saw that the knife had harmlessly glanced off of the gem, but when the knife hit the ground it reflected light from a nearby street lamp at the gem. When the light touched the gem, it turned blood red.

The villain glared at Deku, with rage burning in his dark blue eyes. "You're dead." He hissed. Deku stayed silent, returning the villain's glare. He shot forward, delivering a punch to the villain's face.

Adrenaline shot through Deku's veins, roaring in his ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man. He was frozen in fear as he stared at the villain, his back pressed against a wall. "Get out of here!" Deku shouted at him. The man hesitated for a moment, before getting up and running for his life shouting, "Help! Police! Heroes! Anyone!"

The villain elbowed Deku in the face, so Deku retaliated by sweeping his foot under the villain's legs, causing him to fall to the floor. He saw that the villain's gem was slowly growing darker, almost turning inky black as it was before. _That can't be good..._

The villain leapt to his feet and shoved Deku down onto the ground. His tentacles shot out towards Deku's neck, prepared to choke him to death, but Deku thought fast. He grabbed his knife off of the floor and rolled to the side. He was now behind the villain, and he held the knife out and used it as a mirror. He reflected a beam of light directly at the man's gem, turning it blood red again.

The tentacles dissolved into the air, and the villain froze for a moment, stunned. Deku took this moment to punch the villain upside the head, causing him to get knocked out. Panting, Deku froze for a moment, allowing his mind to catch up with what he had done.

 _I just saved someone._ Deku thought, feeling a warm tingle in his chest. His heart quickly dropped into his feet when he realized what he had just done.

When he had first gotten onto the streets on his own, he quickly learned that the best way to survive was to not draw attention to yourself. This made it so that there would be less people looking for you, and you would end up with a lot less enemies. _I don't care._ He argued with himself. _The man needed saving._

The sound of police sirens reached Deku's ears. He jolted out of his thoughts, and darted away, into the shadows of the night.

* * *

The next day, Deku was walking by a store window. It was filled with TVs, each one playing the news station. Deku didn't pay much attention to it, until he heard the words, "Mysterious vigilante who was caught in a recording fighting a villain with a tentacle quirk."

Deku turned his sight to the TV, where a shaky video that appeared to be taken through a window above the fight he had taken part in that night. A news woman was speaking over the fight, "It appears that the young vigilante is of highschool age. They appears to have a more masculine body type, leading authorities to believe that the vigilante is a male highschooler with a thin, agile build. He was seen wearing dark clothes and a fox-like mask, which has led many to call him the Night Fox. Helpful hero, or illegal vigilante? You decide. Either way, this kid as saved a man's life."

The TV cut to a clip of the man Deku had saved. The man seemed to be a young adult, with short brown hair and eyes of the same color. "I don't know who this kid is, or who he was, or exactly why he helped me, but I do know one thing. Whoever you are, you saved my life. Thank you, Night Fox."

Deku's heart warmed and a slight blush leapt to his cheeks. "You're welcome." He whispered quietly. He made a silent promise to himself that day. Help whenever you can, and always do what's right. That was what a true hero did.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's note**

I am going to be gone for a week, starting on Saturday PST time. Sorry about this, but I have some personal stuff to work on. I'll be back before you guys know it!

* * *

Three months later...

Endeavor frowned, watching the news. This 'Night Fox' character had made his fair share of appearances on it recently, usually just helping people. He had defeated a number of villains, most of which were just petty criminals, but a couple were actually infamous villains. None had gotten away.

The fact tat this child had such fighting talent disturbed Endeavor. _Someone must've taught him... and that someone could be Stain._ Endeavor thought, remembering the night he had first seen the Night Fox.

It was only a glimpse, but he remembered the kid. He had seen him for a fleeting moment right before he attacked Stain and saved Ingenium.

 _It was right after the two pro heroes had chased Stain off. Endeavor wanted to pursue the villain, but Ingenium stopped him. "He's too fast and too stealthy to get caught after disappearing like that. Besides, I'm worried about the kid."_

 _"The kid?"_

 _"Yeah. You must've seen him. The one with the kitsune mask. He saved my life."_

 _"Wait, so you're telling me a child saved your life?" Endeavor asked._

 _"Yup. From Stain."_

 _"A child saved you, a pro hero, from a villain that took both of us to chase away, not even defeat, but just chase away, and you're saying what? What did the kid do, bite his ankles?!"_

 _So Ingenium explained everything. Stain jumping down and catching him by surprise. The kid getting in an argument with Stain. Everything._

 _"So he could've been Stain's pupil."_

 _"Well, I doubt he is anymore."_

The two pro heroes had decided later not to tell anyone about the kid. If the public caught wind of him, they would scare him off. They thought that if they searched enough, they could probably would find him, apprehend him, and question him about Stain. They never did find him.

* * *

Deku frowned. He had made it onto the news, yet again. He didn't really like the popularity, since it caused more people to be looking for him. This meant more people trying to find out his identity, his past, and, worst of all, his quirk.

Some people seemed to assume it was something that enhanced his strength or agility. Others believed it to be super intelligence. Yet more thought it controlled emotions. Everyone had a different opinion on it, and no one even considered the truth. Deku was a little bit offended.

 _No one even thinks its possible to fight villains without a quirk, even when I do it right in front of their eyes._ He bitterly thought to himself. Deku sighed, his presence in town was starting to get noticed more. Especially the fact that he had a hoodie just like the Night Fox's. _I_ _better get going._ ' He told himself. _But to where?_

* * *

Deku pondered this for the entire day. As he walked by the wall of TVs that he walked by every day to catch up on what was going on in the world, he heard the news lady say, "Apparently, All Might, the number one hero, has decided to start teaching at UA. It is unknown exactly why he made this decision, but the hero himself says it's because he wants to educate the young heroes of the future."

 _UA? That's that fancy hero school I wanted to go to when I was a kid. It's near my old house..._ Deku thought. Right then and there he made a super nostalgic, and possibly stupid, decision. _I_ _guess that's where I'm going._

A few minutes later, Deku had everything he actually cared about packed and ready to go. He took a backpack from the abandoned convenience store that he lived in and stored his only food source in it. Old granoala bars and out of date candy. Breaking open the old register, Deku found some money, which he ended up using most of to take the train to Musutafu.

On the train, Deku had sat by himself. He silently pondered whether or not it really was a good idea to go back to his home town.. well, city. _People might recognize me. And is it really a good idea to go somewhere with so many heroes? They might arrest me or something. Ah, well... too late now._

The train stopped at its next station, and a few passengers boarded. An older lady sat down beside Deku. She looked at him for a few moments, before asking, "Where are your parents?"

"Oh, I-" Deku stuttered, desperately trying to think of a lie. "I'm visiting them for the weekend."

"Ah, so that means you're going to one of those fancy boarding schools then?"

"Yes mam." Deku replied.

The old woman didn't continue talking, but nodded quietly. An awkward silence ensued. Deku endured the awkward silence for the rest of the train ride.

By the time he got off of the train, it was nighttime. His favorite time. Deku breathed in the crisp night air, feeling as if he could smell the stars themselves. He swiftly left the station, searching for somewhere to spend the night. After a lot of trial, error, and climbing, he found a rooftop that seemed comfortable enough.

As Deku attempted to fall asleep, using his backpack as a pillow, he suddenly heard something odd. A squishing sound, like sludge being pushed around in a gutter. Suddenly, sludge was surrounding him, choking him by flooding his throat. He heard a demented laugh as he desperately tried to cough up the sludge. "You'll make a good skin suit, kid." A voice said, giving another demented laugh.

Deku was already growing weaker. He tried to struggle, but the villain held him fast. As his vision began to blur, adrenaline shot through Deku's veins. _I'm not dying like this!_ He moved his hand to his belt and grabbed one of his knives. In a quick, fluid motion, he stabbed the villain in the mouth.

The villain roared, releasing Deku. A tooth clattered onto the roof. The villain scowled at Deku, "You've really done it now, kid." It growled. Deku hacked up sludge, tremors shaking his body. He kept a firm hold on his knife as the villain charged towards him. He neatly stepped out of the way, slicing the villain's eye as he passed.

Yellow goop oozed out of the eye. The villain roared in pain, and charged again. This time, Deku wasn't ready for it. Seconds later he was choking again, sludge squeezing the life out of him at every side.

Suddenly, it was gone. Everything was gone. It was just.. black.

Then there was something.. no, someone, slapping Deku in the face. Deku's eyes fluttered open. "Ngh, what happ-!" Deku groaned, but he stopped short when he realized who had been slapping him. All Might.

Deku jumped, backing up quickly. A mixture of fear and awe whirled in his head. "Hey, kid!" All Might said. "Are you feeling okay?"

Deku nodded quickly, but he stayed silent. "Good." All Might said. "You see, I've been chasing this villain all day. I caught him just in time. You had passed out when he tried to kill you. No worries though, I caught him." All Might continued, holding up a coke bottle with green sludge in it. "Though, I do have some questions for you. Mainly, I'm wondering why you're sleeping on a roof with a bunch of knives."

Deku glanced downwards, and nearly cursed his stupidity. His belt. He usually kept it hidden under his sweatshirt, but apparently he was too tired to care when he tried to fall asleep. "I- Er. Couldn't sleep. This is my apartment building and I sleep better under the stars." Deku lied.

"That doesn't include the knives." All Might pointed out.

"Er.. they're because.. I want to be a hero!" Deku half lied. "I train with them so that when I become a hero I can use them."

"Ah. Look, I better get going to the polic-" All Might began, but suddenly he doubled over, coughing.

His entire body was smoking, catching Deku off guard. "Uh, Mister All Might! Sir, are you okay?!" No answer. Deku gulped and fanned some of the smoke away, revealing a thin, blonde man. "What the- you- you're not All Might!" Deku yelped, backing away from the apparent imposter.

"I am All Might." All Might said, sounding more tired than before. "Look, kid, I do this all the time. It's from an old injury."

"B-But, that doesn't.. why did-"

"I can only keep my muscle form for so long every day. The rest of the time, I can't do hero work. I end up just being quirkless and useless."

At those words, Deku flinched. "Quirkless people aren't useless." Deku retorted, feeling hurt.

"No. They aren't useless, but if I'm quirkless, I can't do hero work."

"So... you're saying that being quirkless means you can't be a hero?"

"Exactly."

Deku's heart hardened. He scowled, "I'm quirkless." He growled.

Realization hit All Might like a ton of bricks. "Look, you can be a lot of things and still save lives. You could be a police officer, or a doctor. Much better suited to being quirkless."

Anger shot through Deku. _Even my favorite hero doesn't think quirkless people can be heroes. What the heck! We're not useless!_ Deku thought stubbornly. _And I've done hundreds of heroic things without a quirk!_ He so desperately wanted to say something. To yell at All Might. To show him that quirkless people could still be whatever they wanted to be, but he just turned his head away from All Might and muttered, "Oh."

"I have to turn this guy into the police station. Don't go telling your friends about this." All Might growled, stalking down the stairs of the building.

 _Friends? What friends?_ Deku thought, watching All Might leave.

* * *

When All Might left the building, he grabbed the coke bottle out of his back pocket. He brought it in front of him, and nearly screamed in surprise. The cap was missing from the coke bottle, and the sludge villain was gone.

Meanwhile the sludge villain was laughing to himself. He had unscrewed the cap from inside the bottle, and escaped while the idiot All Might was talking to the kid. He was free, and now all he needed was a new skin suit.

* * *

The next day...

Deku sighed. He was sitting on top of the roof, and bored. That, and he was fed up with quirky people. _They think they know everything. "Can't be a hero without a quirk." Yeah? Who's gonna stop me?_ He thought bitterly. He took a bite of his granola bar, furiously chewing the cardboard-like food.

An explosion cut through the silent morning. Deku sighed, tossing the half eaten granola bar into his bag. "Looks like that's my cue." He muttered, grabbing his mask and tying it onto his face. Leaving the backpack on the roof, he hopped from roof to roof, towards the explosion.

He swiftly made his way onto a roof close enough for him to see what was going on. There was that stupid sludge monster again, and he was holding a kid in his grasp. The idiot kid was exploding everything, and causing more chaos than the villain.

"I thought All Might captured this dude." Deku muttered under his breath. Multiple pro heroes surrounded the scene, and none were helping the kid. And was that... All Might! He didn't even make a move to help the kid. It was disgusting. "Looks like it's time for good ol' Night Fox... in the morning."

Deku jumped down from the roof. A familiar fear jolted through Deku's mind. Every time he fought a villain, it was just another chance for him to die. For him to fail because he was a quirkless wannabe. As usual, he ignored it.

As he was falling, Deku snatched a knife out of his belt. He held it so that when he fell it plunged straight into the villain's eye. From a quick observation, Deku realized he had stabbed the same eye as he had stabbed last time. It had healed minimally, but Deku had stabbed open the exact same cut.

An explosion singed Deku's face, but most of it was blocked by the mask. "Stop exploding everything, you idiot!" Deku roared. "You're making this ten times harder than it needs to be!"

A tentacle of sludge slammed Deku to the side and into a wall. "So you're back for more, ey? Well I'm busy kid, but I'll be glad to deal with you later!" The villain roared.

Deku groaned. Stars danced before her eyes. He rubbed his head, blinking away the blurriness in his vision. He jumped to his feet. The villain was distracted, busy with the explosive kid. Deku launched himself forward. He landed on the villain's uninjured eye.

The villain reached out a tentacle of sludge to slap Deku off of his eye, but Deku stabbed the eye. Yellow goop oozed out of it, and the villain screamed. "I'm blind! I'm blind!" It screamed, releasing the kid.

Explosive kid scowled. He shot a large explosion directly at the villain, and with he villain distracted, he wasn't paying attention to keeping his form. Sludge shot in every direction, and the villain started yelling a number of curse words at the two kids.

Deku turned to leave, when a hand grabbed his shoulder. He whirled around, and found himself face to face with the kid. Deku hadn't had time to realize it earlier, but the kid was blonde, and his hair looked like he exploded it every morning. _Wait.. blonde hair and explosion quirk? This isn't- It couldn't be- Kacchan?!_

"Hey! Night Fox, or whatever the heck you are, don't get in my way!" Kacchan growled. "I didn't need your help back there!"

Deku froze. _Kacchan. It's Kacchan. Oh my god, it's Kacchan. I'm dead. So dead._ Deku's mind raced. Kacchan scowled. "Hey, idiot! Listen to me!" He roared, lifting his hand and make explosions dance across his hand.

Deku flinched, a jolt of terror exploding in his brain. His heart was beating at ninety miles an hour, and his breath sped up. "Hey! Can you even hear me?!" Kacchan growled.

 _I have to get out of here! He'll recognize me!_ Deku thought. He whipped around, and darted away. He quickly climbed up the side of a building, ignoring the yells of anger and confusion coming from the crowd. The anger was mostly from Kacchan.

"Hey! Get back here you useless squirt!" Kacchan roared. Deku ignored him, and swiftly made his way to the roof. He darted away, hopping from roof to roof with a practiced agility. _Oh god. Why did I come here? This was a huge mistake..._


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**

Heyo! I'm back from my week long "vacation". Also, updates are going to get a it more infrequent, because I'm going to be a bit busier than normal. Anyway, I'm back! Also, thank you for all of the support and positive reviews! It really is heartening to learn that people actually enjoy reading my story.

* * *

Deku didn't know how long he ran. He was barely aware of his own movement as he legs hopped from roof to roof automatically. _Mistake. Mistake. Mistake._ His mind sang. _I can't believe it. I know Kacchan lived here but of all the people to meet... him?! He probably recognized me. He's going to report me to the police. I'm going to get caught. I'm going to get caught._

As the hours passed Deku became aware of a stabbing pain in his side. He clambered down the side of a building, taking a seat in the deserted alleyway below just as the adrenaline lost it's effect.

Deku gasped as lightning bolts of pain shot up his side. Wincing, he grabbed his sweatshirt and pulled it up, revealing a bruised and bloodied side. A large bruise covered it, marking where he had hit the wall when he was slapped by the sludge villain. Multiple scratches dotted it. He tentatively reached out a hand towards it, wondering if there were any broken bones. As his hand touched the injury, it sent explosions of pain throughout his chest.

Deku clenched his teeth, hissing in pain. He raised his hand to his head, and it came back covered in blood. The air behind his mask was getting stuffy, so he ripped it off of his face, allowing it to hang around his neck. He gulped in air, gasping for breath as it suddenly seemed hard to breath.

His thoughts were getting foggy, and his vision blurry. The hours of running weighed down on Deku's eyelids. His labored breaths slowed and his eyes shut. As his mind faded, Deku's last thought echoed through his mind. _Just one.. big.. mistake._

A few minutes later a thin man walked up to the passed out teen. He glanced at Deku, observing the fox mask on his neck. He smirked, "Well, well, well. Looks like it's the Night Fox. You will be quite the useful power-up."

* * *

 _Ugh, everything hurts..._

 _Wh-Where am I?_

 _It's so dark... No, wait. My eyes are closed._

Deku groaned as his eyes slowly opened. He blinked tiredly, trying to un-blur his vision. The blurry shapes before his eyes came into focus. There was a man sitting in front of him. He had a disconnected hand grabbing onto his face.

 _Who is that? Is this a dream? Is that a hand? Where am I? Why does my head hurt? What the heck is going on?_

"Hey! Shut up, squirt!" The man growled, snapping his fingers in front of Deku's face. "Can you even hear me?"

Deku slid backwards, pushing himself even further against the wall he was leaning against. "Wh- What?" He asked nervously.

"You were muttering like you were insane." The man explained. "You also have some pretty serious injuries. Lucky for you, Kurogiri knows first aid."

Deku rubbed his head with his hand. It felt oddly soft, and he realized that it was wrapped in gauze. Glancing downwards, he saw that his abdomen was similarly bandaged. He stared upwards at the strange man. "Wh-Who are you?"

"Shigaraki." The man said. "And you're currently inside my hideout." He continued, gesturing to the surrounding room. Deku glanced around the room. The wooden floor looked old and worn down, but it seemed well swept. There was also a counter, similarly worn down, but also well cleaned. Behind it was a bar, where a strange, purple, wispy man stood washing a cup. The first man, Shigaraki, shot Deku a curious glance. "What's your name anyway? Or should I just call you mysterious teenager who just happens to have a Night Fox mask and hoodie?" Shigaraki asked sarcastically.

"I- er.. I'm not the Night Fox! I just have some.. er, merch of his!" Deku lied nervously.

"Yeah, we all know that's a lie." Shigaraki said. "By the way, you never answered my question." He observed.

Deku sighed. "I'm..." He hesitated. _Well, not like he'll recognize the name. I'm presumed dead..._ He thought to himself. "I'm Izuku Midoriya."

"Midoriya, ey?" Shigaraki asked. "You're telling me that you're literally named after the color green?"

"Yeah..." Deku muttered awkwardly.

Shigaraki snorted. "I'm not sure if you're extremely lucky or really unlucky to have green hair."

Deku chuckled. "Yeah..." He muttered awkwardly. He silently wondered exactly what was up with this guy. _Most people don't live in a creepy bar... and he called this a hideout. Maybe he's a vigilante like me, but I never saw anyone like him in the news. And there's the disconnected hands, what's up with that?_

"Seriously, your muttering is kinda creepy." Shigaraki pointed out. "And I am... relatively like a vigilante."

"Relatively? That's ominous..." Deku observed.

"Well... most people consider me a villain." Shigaraki said.

Deku jumped upwards. He tried to slide away from Shigaraki, but as he attempted to move away from him, the world tilted. He blinked rapidly, trying to realign his vision. The world spun and he fell to the side. Then Deku felt the fall stop suddenly.

Deku glanced upwards to realize that his fall was caught by Shigaraki. _I'm too injured to fight right now! I could try to run, but in this state I wouldn't get very far._ He freaked out and rolled out of the man's hands. He fell with a thump to the floor, and broke his fall by sticking out his arms.

Needles of pain stabbed through his side. Deku gasped in pain. "Jeez, squirt. Chill out, will you?" Shigaraki said.

"I- er... Get back! I- I'm armed!" Deku shouted. He reached for a knife on his belt, but there was nothing there. He patted his torso down, searching for his belt. "Wait! Wh-Where's my knives?!"

"We took them away when Kurogiri was bandaging you so you didn't end up stabbing us when you woke up." Shigaraki explained. "Cause that definitely wouldn't be fun."

"You predicted that I would stab you?!" Deku yelped.

"Well, you do stab villains all the time. There's a dozen videos of it in the news." Shigaraki said, gesturing to the TV, which was playing a clip of Deku fighting the sludge villain. It showed him stabbing the villain's eye. "Case in point."

Deku sighed, "Point taken." He allowed himself to relax.

"Look, we're not really that bad. We're working for a good cause." Shigaraki continued.

"Which is?" Deku questioned.

"Getting rid of all of the fake heroes." Shigaraki replied.

 _Great. Another Stain._ Deku thought. He nearly groaned out loud, but stopped himself. _But I do need somewhere to stay while I heal... and they probably have medical equipment aside from just gauze. That could speed up my healing process. Besides, I could probably learn what they're doing to stop these fake heroes. Maybe I could stop them if needed._

"All right. I'm interested."

* * *

One year later...

Deku sighed. He had been with the League of Villains for a year, and had learned not nearly as much as he wanted about their plans. They were definitely planning something. Something big. He assumed it was something against UA, but he wasn't exactly sure how they were going to get through the security, or what they were planning to do once they were in.

Aside from learning about their plans, Deku had done a lot over the year. After he had healed, he had continued fighting villains. Every night he still did hero work, which the League of Villains was well aware of. They didn't seem to mind it though. The League of Villains was actually surprisingly nice. Kurogiri was always happy to teach Deku some battle tactics, and Shigaraki liked to hang out and play video games with him.

He had also learned how to steal. Not because he wanted to, but because his sweatshirt was getting small. It actually wasn't that hard. You just had to be stealthy, something Deku was pretty good at.

Deku was currently sitting on his bed, writing in his hero journal. He was working on his page for Shigaraki, and currently wondering exactly how fast his decay quirk worked. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Deku said, swiftly closing his journal. The door swung open, revealing Shigaraki behind it.

"Hey, squirt. Y'now that big thing we've been planning?" Shigaraki asked quickly.

"Kinda hard to miss." Deku replied.

"We need you for it."


	6. Chapter 5

Deku was staring at his hero journal, tapping his pencil against it in a fast rhythm, sending echoes throughout the room. _Plans, plans, plans. They want me to get the files on the students... maybe I could get fake files. That would take too long to print though, since the hideout doesn't have a printer. Maybe I could fail at getting the files._

He sighed, furiously jotting down possible ways to ruin the villain's plans. None were foolproof. Deku glanced upwards, his eyes catching on a digital clock. _Oh god. It's past midnight, and I need to steal the files tomorrow. Actually working with them or not, if I get caught I'm dead meat._

Yawning, Deku closed his journal and tossed it onto the floor. He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. Within minutes he was snoring.

* * *

"So here's how you're going to get in." Shigaraki said. "You get teleported in when the alarm rings. We split up when we warp into the school. I'm going to get the schedule, and you're going to go to the records room and grab the student's files. Kurogiri will wait in the empty 2-A classroom, where we'll meet up once we've attained the correct files."

"They have a room full of actual paper files?" Deku asked. "Aren't most files digital nowadays?"

"Yes, but they're required to have a physical version of the student's files for legal reasons." Kurogiri explained. He was standing behind the counter, washing a cup while Shigaraki and Deku discussed the plans.

"So you attack for real tomorrow?" Deku asked Shigaraki.

"We. You're coming to." Shigaraki replied.

'I'm coming on the full-scale attack to?!" Deku yelped. _This is going to be the perfect opportunity to mess up their plan!_

"You sound almost excited." Shigaraki observed.

"Just- er, happy to be part of something important!" Deku said defensively.

"Good." Shigaraki smirked. "Then let's begin."

* * *

Deku stared blankly at the countertop in front of him. Plans and ideas rushed through his mind. He was waiting for Shigaraki and Kurogiri to trigger the alarms, then open a portal for him into the school.

As if the thought had summoned it, a portal shot open right in front of Deku. He got up and took a deep breath. _Here I go. Better hope plan A works, cause I don't have a plan B._

After a moment's hesitation Deku walked through the portal. When he emerged from the portal he saw a classroom around him. _So this is what a highschool classroom looks like..._ He thought to himself. Turning to his left, he saw Kurogiri, but there was no sign of Shigaraki.

Almost like he had read Deku's mind, Kurogiri said, "Shigaraki is already retrieving the schedule. Get going."

Deku nodded. He headed towards the door, picturing the map in his head as he did. As he swung the door open, he repeated the directions in his head. _Left. Left. Forward. First door on the right. Down the hall. Last door to the left._

As he walked down the hallway, Deku looked extremely worried. Partly because he was supposed to be blending in, but mostly because of nerves. Suddenly he heard a voice right behind him. "What are you doing?"

Deku jumped. "I- I, er-" He whirled around, coming face to face with a man. He had bloodshot eyes, and looked sleep deprived. _Eraserhead!? I thought the teachers were supposed to be stopping the public from entering!_

"I'm just- I got lunch detention!" Deku yelped. "W-What are you doing here? I thought you were going to deal with the press intruding on the campus."

"I'm on my way now." Eraserhead explained. "But they can handle themselves for a few minutes without me. How did you figure out it was the press?" He said accusingly, glaring at Deku.

"I looked out a window." Deku replied, his nervousness clearly showing.

"Right." Eraserhead replied skeptically. "Which course are you in?"

"Um... general studies." Deku said quickly.

This earned a suspicious stare from Eraserhead. "No you aren't. I've seen the general studies class, and I don't recognize you."

"I- I-" Deku stammered. Eraserhead snatched his scarf and threw it at Deku, interrupting his sentence. Deku dove to the left, narrowly avoiding getting grabbed by the scarf. He hit the floor and scrambled back to his feet.

"Look kid, I really don't want to hurt some random fourteen year old. Just don't fight me and I'll try to make sure you get off easy." Eraserhead said calmly.

Deku didn't reply. He darted forward and snatched Eraserhead's scarf. Eraserhead spun around and backed into a wall, slamming Deku's head into it. Deku winced, pain shooting through his skull, but held on to the scarf nonetheless. Wrapping his right hand in the scarf, he lifted his left hand and pinched Eraserhead's neck. He pinched directly on a pressure point that he had learned about from Stain. Deku waited for a few minutes as Eraserhead's struggles weakened. Five minutes later, Eraserhead had passed out on the floor.

Deku whirled around and darted down the hallway. _He's only going to be passed out for a few minutes, which means I have way less time now._ Before he knew it, he had run to the records room. Searching through the files, Deku found the folder for the student's files. As he pulled the folder out of the filing cabinet, he debated actually giving the villains the files or not. _I_ _need as many advantages I can get, which means I need as many disadvantages for the League of Villains I can get._

He stared at the folder, and quickly flipped through a few of the student's files. _The League of Villains must have a way to jam the alarms if they're attacking though, so they'll probably be at an isolated area. The Tenya Iida kid should be fast enough to escape Kurogiri. If I can get him to escape, then I can use the other students to fight the villains... but I don't want to risk their lives..._ Deku checked glanced upwards to the clock on the wall. _Three minutes left! I need to get going!_

Deku threw the files back into the cabinet. He snatched a blank paper and a pencil off of a nearby desk, then darted down the hallway. As he ran back to the rendezvous point, he almost ran past Eraserhead without noticing. Deku skidded to a stop. He crouched on the floor and furiously scribbled some words on the paper, trying his best to not get any fingerprints on it. Then he threw the note down and continued sprinting away.

Minutes later, Deku arrived at the empty classroom. Kurogiri and Shigaraki were both there. "Where are the files?" Kurogiri asked.

"I ran out of time because I got held up talking to a teacher." Deku lied quickly.

"This is unfortunate, but the small fry shouldn't be too much of a problem anyway." Kurogiri mused. "Nonetheless, we must get going." He summoned a wispy portal. Shigaraki and Deku both went through, both facing tidal waves of emotion. Shigaraki's being childish excitement, and Deku's being desperate hope that his note would be noticed.

* * *

Eraserhead groaned. He rubbed his neck, which was giving off a stinging feeling. Shota paused for a moment, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. Suddenly he jolted upwards. _Where's the kid?!_

Aizawa noticed a small piece of paper in front of him. He would've ignored it, has he not noticed the hasty, worried writing on it. Grabbing the paper, Shota read it.

 _Sorry for attacking you. Don't have much time. Attack tomorrow. Be prepared._

"That doesn't sound good..." Shota muttered.

* * *

"So what do we do now?" Present Mic asked.

"We up security." Nezu replied. "If we stop school for no reason tomorrow, the press will get suspicious that there is something going on. The best thing we can do is prepare. Besides, we don't know if this is a legitimate problem or not. This could just be a stupid prank by some bored teenagers. Just bring three pro heroes with you tomorrow to the USJ."

"Are you sure that's enough?" Eraserhead asked.

"Three pro heroes should be enough. Especially if they bring All Might with them." Nezu replied. "And now, the meeting should be over. Unless there is anything important anyone needs to tell us?"

A collection of no's and shaking heads followed.

"And the meeting is over."

* * *

The next day...

"Ready for the boss fight?" Shigaraki asked.

Deku nodded silently. Sweat dripped down his face. _I_ _only have one chance to get this right. Plan A don't you dare fail me._

"You look nervous, squirt." Shigaraki observed.

"J-Just worried I'll mess something up." Deku replied, not completely lying.

"You'll be fine." Kurogiri said calmly. "We have plenty of reinforcements."

"Yeah..." Deku said nervously. _That's what I'm worried about._

Kurogiri opened a dark purple, wispy portal in front of the group. "We must grab our reinforcements first though. Stay back until the portal opens up."

Deku nodded grimly. _This is it. In five minutes, it's make or break time._

* * *

Deku emerged from the portal, wearing his slightly upgraded Night Fox costume. He still wore the same mask, but he had gotten a new black hoodie, and black jeans. He wore bright red sneakers, as well as silver and blackelbow and knee pads.

Deku turned his head upwards at the terrified faces of the students. Confused mutters came from their direction.

"Has training already started?"

"I thought we were doing rescue training."

"This isn't training. Those are real villains. Stay behind me!" Eraserhead yelled. He darted forward towards the villains.

The firing squad stepped forward. "Fire!" They shouted. The finger-gun guy lifted his fingers and attempted to shoot Aizawa. Nothing happened.

 _Eraserhead! He can temporarily erase quirks, but he's best at stealth attacks and one on one combat. This isn't suited for his fighting style, or his quirk! What do I do?! I don't know when it's time reveal that I'm against them! I haven't done the plan yet!_ Deku's mind screamed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kurogiri scattering the students around the USJ.

 _First I have to find the fast engine guy. Tenya Iida. If I can get him to escape, then pro heroes will come and take care of this._ He glanced at Eraserhead. _He seems to be managing fine. A few minutes couldn't hurt. I just have to hope a bunch of pr heroes can take out the secret weapon that they keep talking about... Ugh, I wish they told me more._

Deku stared at the small group of students who Kurogiri hadn't teleported away. One of them had exhaust pipes coming out of his legs. _There he is!_

Deku glanced to his left. Shigaraki was standing back and out of the action. "I'm going to help Kurogiri." He said quickly.

Shigaraki glanced at Kurogiri. He nodded his approval of this silently. Deku darted past Kurogiri, and towards the students. Kurogiri seemed surprised. "What are you doing here?!" He wasn't the only one who was surprised. All of the students were startled to see the famed vigilante, Night Fox, here at a villain attack, seemingly fighting for the villains.

"I'm doing the right thing." Deku growled. He turned to the crowd, searching for someone specific. Suddenly he spotted the person he was looking for. Thirteen. She was laying on the floor, clearly injured. _Oh no! She was the one who was going to get rid of Kurogiri! I guess I'm going to have to take care of him myself. In the meantime, I have to get Iida to escape!_

"Tenya Iida!" He shouted. The glasses kid glanced upwards.

"H-How did you know my name?!" Iida yelped.

"Doesn't matter! Just run and warn the teachers! You're the only one fast enough to get there in time!" Deku shouted.

Tenya paused for a moment. _That... actually makes sense ... this is the only way._ He thought. He nodded grimly. Whirling around, he darted towards the exit.

Kurogiri was stunned. He hesitated for only a moment, before going after Iida. It was clear that Iida wouldn't make it in time.

"Hey! Gravity girl! Kurogiri's real body is protected by the neck armor! You can't see it because of his smoke. If you make it float you can stop him before he gets Iida!" Deku shouted.

Uraraki didn't hesitate. She leaped forward and slapped the neck armor that Kurogiri was wearing. "Wh-What?!" He shouted angrily. "How dare you!"

Kurogiri began to fly into the air, away from Iida. Iida took this moment to put on a burst of speed. He flew out the door and kept running. _Good. Now we just have to stay alive for as long as it takes for him to get to UA. If I calculated correctly, it should take ten minutes at most._ Deku thought.

His thoughts were interrupted by a warp gate opening under his feet. Deku dropped into it, and suddenly he was upside down. Kurogiri was holding him by the ankle and dangling him in the air. "Of all the people that would betray us, you were the last one I would imagine. How cou-!"

The gravity girl had released Kurogiri, and Kurogiri and Deku were falling through the air. Gravity girl darted forward as Deku fell and slapped him right before he hit the ground. Deku floated in the air for a moment, before he was released and fell to the ground with a thump.

 _She just saved my life!_ Deku thought. Directly above him, Kurogiri stopped his fall and hovered in the air. Before Kurogiri could react, Deku leapt forward and grabbed his neck armor. Deku tackled him to the ground and pinned him down.

"You guys get out of here. The pros will be here in a few minutes." Deku said. Out of no where, someone tackled Deku from behind. Deku was thrown to the floor. He scrambled upwards, and snatched a knife from his belt. He glared upwards, and his gaze was met by a blonde kid. Not just any blonde kid, Bakugo.

"What's your problem?! You're working with the villains!" Bakugo roared.

"No! No! I can explain!" Deku shouted defensively. He was shaking from fear.

Behind Bakugo, Kurogiri rose. "We don't have time for this. Help me with Kurogiri!" Deku shouted. "His weak spot is the neck armor!"

Bakugo whirled around. Without any hesitation, he leapt forward towards the neck armor. Kurogiri floated out of the way, but Deku was waiting for this. Deku charged forward and tackled Kurogiri. The two flew down the large set of stairs leading downwards towards Shigaraki and Aizawa. They hit the ground and slid forward, directly in front of Shigaraki.

Deku groaned. He rubbed his head, pushing himself up from his laying position on the ground. Before he knew what was happening, a hand clamped shut around his neck. Deku froze as an angered voice reached his ears.

"You little traitor." Shigaraki growled. "I should kill you right now. I could do it. All I would have to do is move my index finger. But, I feel like you would be a useful hostage." Shigaraki turned to look at Aizawa. "Isn't that right, Eraserhead?"

Without replying, Aizawa leapt forward. Shigaraki pressing his index finger onto Deku's neck, but nothing happened. Aizawa had erased his quirk. He threw Shigaraki to the side, as Deku fell to the floor.

Deku scrambled upwards just as he saw Bakugo fighting Kurogiri. Bakugo tackled Kurogiri down and pinned him to the ground. Worry surged through Deku. 'They should be here by now. Every second they take to get here is another chance for the villains to kill one of the students.'

Kurogiri opened a portal under himself. Bakugo was left trying to pin down empty space. He appeared above the group, then opened another portal.

A large, purple creature came put of it. It was vaguely humanoid, but it had a strange beak. It wore worn our shorts that barely fit it. Directly behind it's large beak was an exposed brain, but that wasn't the most terrifying part. The most terrifying part was it's eyes. They were completely emotionless, as if it wasn't seeing anything around out. Blank orbs of insanity.

The creature roared. An inhuman sound that screeched through the USJ. "Nomu, take care of Eraserhead." The creature, Nomu, clambered towards Eraserhead. With astounding strength, it punched him, knocking him to the floor.

Nomu grabbed Aizawa's head. It slammed his head into the floor, then lifted it again. As the cycle repeated, Kurogiri flew to Shigaraki's side. "One of the students got away." He said.

"That is... unfortunate." Shigaraki growled, scratching his neck furiously. "If you weren't our way out, I'd kill you right now, Kurogiri. It'll be game over if the pros come. We might have to retreat..."

Deku couldn't believe what he was hearing. They were going to retreat! This was perfect! The villain's would leave and everyone would be safe. He couldn't help but notice one thing though. Bakugo was stealthily creeping up behind Shigaraki, hands raised and prepared to cause an explosion, most likely to knock Shigaraki out.

"But before that, let's wreck All Might's pride. How about we kill one of his students?" Shigaraki continued. Suddenly he whirled around and his hand shot out. It slapped directly onto Bakugo's face.

Deku froze, staring wide eyed at Bakugo. He had seen Shigaraki's decaying touch at work before. It slowly rotted away the skin, until it cracked and fell off. Then came the muscle underneath, slowly ripping apart and turning black. BUt as Shigaraki touched Bakugo's face, nothing happened.

Shigaraki laughed. "You really are cool, Eraserhead." He said, turning around and glaring at Aizawa. Despite having his head repeatedly slammed into the ground by Nomu, Aizawa was canceling out Shigaraki's quirk. Nomu slammed Eraserhead's head into the ground again.

Suddenly a loud crash rang through the air. It was as if time had stopped. Everyone froze and stared up at the cause of the sound. "Do not fear, for I am here!" A deep voice echoed through the silence. It was All Might! Before anyone could even process what was happening, All Might had run down from the entrance, and snatched Aizawa out of harm's way, placing him next to two kids. One of the, was short and purple, and the second extremely frog-like.

Shigaraki smirked. "Look who finally decided to show up." He said. "I see you've met my friend here. I call it Nomu."

An idea shot through Deku like a lightning bolt. 'This is the secret weapon. This is what they're going to use to kill All Might. And... I'm not sure it's going to lose.' His thoughts were interrupted by Bakugo tackling him from behind. "What did you know about this?! Are you helping the villains!?" Bakugo roared.

Deku fell to the ground and was soon pinned by Bakugo. He froze, and began to stammer excuses. "N-No! I- I-" He was interrupted by and explosion right next to his face. Deku flinched.

A hand landed on Bakugo's shoulder. "Bakugo, stop! He helped us!" A voice shouted. It was the gravity girl, Uraraka!

"I'll stop when this moron tells me what the heck is going on!" Bakugo roared.

"I- I've been spying on them! To try to stop their plans!" Deku yelped. Out of the corner of his eye he saw All Might being pushed halfway into a portal, held in place by Nomu. "I don't have time for this!" Deku shouted. He wiggled out of Bakugo's grip, and darted over to All Might. Before he could do anything, Nomu's hands froze. Behind Nomu stood a kid with an ice-like suit covering half of his body.

All Might managed to break out of Nomu's grip. His entire body was smoking, and he was clearly out of energy. 'He's out of time! And I'm the only one here that knows about his time limit!' The Nomu crawled out of the warp gate. It's frozen side broke off, but it's leg and arm regrew. It roared and charged towards All Might.

Deku moved without realizing it. He snatched a knife out of his pocket and leapt. He landed directly on the creature's head. Deku plunged the knife into the creature's brain. He slid the knife downwards, and across it's eye. Suddenly the cut he had made knit itself back together. The creature roared again. It spun around and threw Deku off.

"Nomu doesn't just have shock absorption. It also has regeneration. It's the perfect final boss for All Might." Shigaraki said. All Might panted.

He stood taller, then replied, "It has shock absorption, not nullification!" Darting forward, he began throwing punches faster than Deku could even see. Each one perfectly aimed.

All Might drove the creature back, throwing punch after punch. Suddenly he delivered an extremely strong punch that sent the creature flying through the roof out of the USJ.

Deku was in awe. Suddenly he heard a gunshot. A bullet went directly into Shigaraki's leg. Deku spun around and saw a group of pro heroes. They had finally made it! Shigaraki scowled, "I think it's time to go." Kurogiri nodded and opened a portal. The two retreated into the portal and it disappeared.

Deku sighed with relief. Now that the pros were there, his job was done. _I just have to get put of here._ He thought. Before he could run away, Bakugo caused an explosion right next to Deku's face. "Now it's time you told us what the heck is going on here!" The explosion blew the mask off of Deku's face, and Bakugo froze.

 _No. No! NO! He recognizes me!_ Deku's mind screamed. He turned to disappear into the shadows, but the energy drained from his limbs. He blinked and realized that his vision was getting blurry, and his breathing was labored. Deku vaguely noticed that there was a pink haze in the air. _Midnight's quirk!_ He thought, but his mind dropped back into the tired haze. He swayed slightly and fell to the ground. Deku's eyes closed and his thoughts disappeared.


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note**

I cannot BELIEVE how much support this fanfic has gotten so far! So, first I would love to thank everyone that read and continues to read this, despite it being written by an amateur fanfic author. Second, thank you for all the wonderful reviews! Your support really does war my heart.

* * *

Bakugo scowled. He was sitting in his room after being questioned a million times by the police. _Idiots. I told them everything I knew. Well... at least everything I knew about the attack._

He sighed irritably. It still made no sense to him. _One day his mom is dead, and he goes missing and presumed dead, and then the next he's a famous vigilante that appears out of no where!_ Some small part of Bakugo still wanted to believe that it wasn't Deku, but he knew it was. Even if eight years had passed since he had last seen him, he would recognize him anywhere.

 _And he was quirkless! But now he's super strong and quick! Maybe he had a late developing quirk that increases his agility or something. He used to be a weakling that I could crush like a bug, and now..._ Bakugo subconsciously set off an small explosion in his hand.

 _He helped me to. He told me the warp dude's weakness. I should've noticed that faster!_ A small part of Bakugo told him that it was because Deku was smarter than him. _No. I can't let that happen. I have to be the strongest, the smartest, the fastest. I have to be the best._

 _But I'm not._

* * *

Deku groaned. _Wait... did I oversleep or something?_ He thought groggily. _This doesn't feel like my bed..._ Deku faintly heard some voices talking lowly, but he was too tired to care what they were talking about. He moved his arm slightly, and his shoulder immediately felt like it was stabbed by a ton of needles.

The pain jolted him awake. Deku's eyes shot open and he flew into a sitting position. More pain erupted from his shoulder, and Deku winced slightly. He heard someone speaking. "Hey, hey. Kid, lay back down." He felt firm hands on his uninjured shoulder pushing him back down onto the bed.

"I'm fine." Deku growled, weakly pushing the hands away. It suddenly occurred to him to wonder where he was. It seemed to be a hospital of some sort but... hospitals were bigger than this, right? _And why would I be in a hospital in the first place? Did I get injured or something?_

The voice spoke again, but it didn't seem to be addressing Deku. "Should he be muttering this much? Did he get a concussion?"

 _Wonder who that is. Sounds kind of like- wait... what happened before this?_ Just like that realization hit Deku like a brick. _Oh god... the fight, the creepy creature.. er, nomu, and... I got caught. Oh no. No. Nononononono. My number one rule, don't get caught, and I FREAKING BROKE IT!_

"Wow, wow, wow. Kid, chill out!" Deku felt the hand on his shoulder again. He shoved it off. Glancing upwards, Deku realized it was All Might. He wasn't in his muscly form though, and his side and arm were covered in bandages.

Deku sighed frustratedly. He glanced around him and saw a few people in the room. One was Eraserhead. He was lying on a bed, with his face concealed by bandages. Thirteen was lying on another bed. There was a large rip in the back of their suit. The only other three people in the room was a short old lady, All Might, and some guy in a trench coat.

He glanced at his shoulder, which was bruised pretty badly, but seemed to be otherwise unharmed. "Where am I?" Deku asked All Might.

"The nurse's office at UA." All Might replied. "We needed to check if you were harmed. You don't seem to have too bad of injuries though, just some bruising and a couple scratches. There a small fracture in your shoulder, but Recovery Girl can handle that pretty easily."

"So... what's gonna happen to me?" Deku asked, sounding miserable.

"What do you mean?" All Might asked, sounding concerned.

"I mean, you guys all know I'm the Night Fox by now. I was just caught with a bunch of Villains. I've been doing hero work even though I'm underage and without a license of any kind. What do you think I mean?" Deku retorted.

"Well... that's a matter for a lawyer to address, but I think you'll get off relatively easy." All Might replied.

"And why is that?" Deku asked irritably.

"For multiple reasons. For one, you never killed or permanently injured anyone. Two, you did it all to help people. And three, most laws referring to people doing hero work without a license usually only refer to people who use their quirks to hurt people, and you never did that." All Might told Deku. "But, you might get off easier if you give us some information."

"About he League of Villains? The leader is Tomura Shigaraki, and his quirk is being able to decay anything he touches with all five of his fingers with one hand. Kurogiri has a teleportation quirk, but he needs to know the exact coordinates of where he's teleporting to teleport there. He also has a wispy form, but he has an actual body underneath all of the smoke. The League of Villain's hideout is at 2312 Serenity Road in the abandoned warehouse. They report to someone, but I'm not sure who. And that's pretty much all I know." Deku blurted.

The man in the trench coat wrote down a few things on his notepad. He quizzically glanced upward at Deku. "You seem awfully excited to betray the League of Villains, but they appeared to trust you before you betrayed them. Is there a reason for that?"

"I've been spying on them for a year now. Pretending I actually agree with their insane philosophy, and trying to stop whatever big plan they were coming up with. It turned out to be the USJ attack." Deku explained.

"And why did you not report them to the police?" The man questioned.

"I'm a vigilante and presumed dead. Do you really want me to tell you how that would go?" Deku asked.

"Presumed dead?"

"I- er..." Deku stammered. _I shouldn't have said that! But... they're gonna find out at some point anyway._ He reminded himself. _Unless I escape before they can._ Deku sighed. "Yeah. I was involved in an... incident and it led people to believe that I died."

"Would you care to explain exactly what this incident was?" The man asked.

"Not really..." Deku replied quietly.

"Okay then. What about your name?"

"Ummm..." Deku paused. _Should I tell them? Not yet. Not until I have to._ He quickly thought of a replacement name. "Gimei Sagishi."

The man squinted at Deku suspiciously for a moment. He looked down on his paper and wrote something down. "So, you were muttering about rule number one earlier. Care to explain?"

"Oh... the rules." Deku sighed. He had never really explained the rules to anyone. Not that he ever had much of a chance to, since he had only known three or four people after he began making them. "They're like my code. I give myself a set of rules and make myself live by them. Rule number one is don't get caught. Rule number two is never harm anyone unless needed. Rule number three is never kill anyone, villain or not. Rule number four is help whoever you can. Rule number five is never steal unless you need to, and even then, never steal from people who need it more than you. And the final rule is never to let fear stop me." Deku blurted quickly. _Why does he even care anyway?_

"Mmhm." The man mumbled. He jotted down a few more things on his notepad.

"What are you writing on your notepad anyway?" Deku asked curiously. He was always interested in observation processes. What to write down, what not to write down, what was important, that kind of stuff.

"Just some observations." The man said. "I was also wond-"

"Oh Tsuakuachi! Stop questioning the poor boy, he needs to heal!" The old woman scolded. She walked up to Deku and kissed his hand.

Deku recoiled, feeling utterly confused. Suddenly his shoulder felt oddly itchy, so he glanced at it. He pulled the neck of his sweatshirt so that he could see his shoulder, and right before his eyes his bruises disappeared. Deku let his sweatshirt cover his shoulder again, then turned to the old woman.

Deku yawned, suddenly feeling tired. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the grogginess. "My quirk uses my patient's energy to heal their injuries faster." The old lady explained. "By the way, you can call me Recovery Girl."

Deku nodded slowly, barely taking in the information. He felt hands pushing him down onto the bed. He didn't struggle and fell limply onto the pillow. His eyes shut and his mind drifted into fog.

* * *

The next few days pretty much blurred into an annoying mix of interrogations and talking to lawyers, with Deku on constant alert on trying to figure out how to escape back onto the streets. It was nearly impossible since he was almost always surrounded by pro heroes. Deku had to attend a trial, but that was pretty much the peak of his excitement. They also did a gene test on him and learned about his true identity. He had to tell them about how he escaped when his mom was killed, but he didn't tell them a thing about Stain. Eventually he was told that he got off with almost no consequences because of his age and some loopholes in laws. Though, he did have to have a pro hero as his guardian/handler.

Deku was extremely happy about one thing though. They had managed to keep the true identity of the Night Fox out of the knowledge of the public, only revealing that he was captured and that he had been spying on the League of Villains. He really didn't like attention.

Though his mood was ruined when he learned who his 'legal guardian' was going to be. "It's All Might?!" Deku yelped angrily. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Well, we didn't want to have to tell anyone who doesn't already know about your situation... Recovery Girl is too old to take care of a kid, and, frankly, Aizawa hates children." Tsukauchi explained.

"Then why is he a teacher?!"

"One, because he wants to help future heroes. And two, his attitude towards children isn't that different from his attitude towards everything else. Why do you seem so mad at All Might anyway?"

"Because of... certain past events." Deku replied awkwardly. He thought back to when All Might told him that he couldn't be a hero. 'I can easily do it. I did it all the time... before I got caught. I'm gonna have to escape soon...'

"Alright." Tsukauchi said, sounding tired. He had learned over the few days that he knew the kid that if he didn't want to talk, he wouldn't. He was more stubborn than All Might. "Anyway, Toshinori was pretty much the only logical option. I apologize if this causes you any inconvenience."

Deku sighed frustratedly. "Fine... when do I have to go home with him?"

"Right after this. It's just that we're legally required to do some paperwork with you, so we just have to get done with this and then you get to go to your new home." Tsukauchi told Deku.

After a few hours of Deku signing things and listening to stupid legal stuff, they left the small jail cell in the police station that had served as his room over the past few days. They soon met up with All Might and exited the police station.

The trio didn't talk much as the walked to the parking lot. All Might led Deku to his car, while Tsukauchi stayed behind, waving goodbye as the car drove away. In the car the only sound was from the traffic outside. Otherwise, the silence was deafening.

Once or twice All Might attempted to start a conversation by saying something along the lines of, "So... Izuku, you... uh, have anything you want to talk about?" To which Deku would always reply without speaking. He would just shake his head no and stare out the window.

Eventually, after what felt like a year long drive, the pulled into a concrete driveway. Deku continued to stare placidly out into space, but he pushed open the car door. As he turned to close it, he saw All Might's house out of the corner of his eye.

Had Deku not been so determined to not be impressed, his jaw would've dropped. It hadn't occurred to Deku to think about it, but being the number one hero also meant being the number one earner. It was bigger than anywhere he had stayed before, and luxuriously decorated. Deku found it stupid. The only point of showing off all of that wealth was just because you wanted people to know that you were wealthy. There was no practical purpose for putting that much gold on a house.

All Might ushered Deku into the house, and closed the door behind them as they entered. He seemed quite proud of his house, and was smiling now. "Welcome to your new home!" He crowed.

Deku sighed. "And so it begins." He muttered under his breath.

"So, do you... er, want some lunch?" All Might asked.

"Sure." Deku replied, sounding bored.

All Might nodded and headed towards his kitchen. He grabbed some random stuff from the fridge and started preparing something that seemed to be katsudon. Deku's stomach growled despite him not wanting it to. He scowled as All Might tried to give him a fatherly smile.

After an awkward few minutes All Might dished out the food. Hey ate in silence for a while, but All Might broke it. "I've been meaning to talk about something with you." All Might said.

"Which is?" Deku asked.

"Well... you do want to be a hero, right?"

"I already was a hero, if I remember correctly." Deku pointed out.

"Being a vigilante doesn't really count. I mean a hero with a license and permit and all that stuff."

"Yeah, kinda."

"You know you can't really do that without going to a school with a hero course, so which one are you planning on going to?"

"If I can, UA."

"UA? Are you saying that because I teach there?" All Might asked.

"No. I'm saying it because it's literally the best hero school around."

"But you're never going to get in without a quirk."

Deku scowled. 'There he goes again. Telling me I can't do it. You call that being a hero?' He thought. "They got rid of that rule months ago."

"You wouldn't be able to pass the practical exam so-"

"Just get to the point." Deku growled.

"I... I can pass down my quirk. I in fact, kind of need to. I can't be the symbol of peace forever. And you seem like a good candidate for the next symbol of peace."

"And why do you say that?" Deku asked placidly. Silently he was freaking out. _He can pass on his quirk?! This changes everything we thought we knew about quirks! And me getting a quirk? Especially a quirk as powerful as All Might's... it'd be life changing._

"You have the spirit, the determination, and you are someone who always wants to help others, no matter what. Like when you saved me even though I told you some misguided things. So, what do you say?"

Deku paused for a moment, thinking hard. After a few minutes he opened his mouth and answered. "No."

"What?!" All Might shouted.

"I said no." Deku replied, keeping a straight face.

"But... why?!"

"Because I don't want a quirk." Deku said, still doing his best to keep his poker face.

"But why not?!"

"Well, you're a symbol of peace, right? That's not what I want to be. I want to be a symbol of hope. Not all men are born equal, and I want to be able to symbolize the hope that those who are born on the lesser end of the spectrum can do whatever they want, even surpass those who were born luckier. That we can be anything, no matter what people say. Even be a hero." Deku told All Might, his voice hardening with anger.

All Might was shocked into silence. He paused for a moment, debating how to continue. "I understand." He said, sounding defeated. "But, you could save more people if you had a quirk."

Deku wouldn't admit it, but he had to agree with this. It was true. _Am I being selfish? Just because I don't want to have a quirk. Just because that would make me like the people who said I couldn't be a hero because I didn't have a quirk. But having a quirk wouldn't make me act like them. I'm my own person..._ He sighed. "I'll think about it."


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note**

Once again, thank you for all the support! You people are amazing! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, favorites, and follows! On another note, time for some self advertising! I'm planning on making a bnha rp forum! It's going to be a little bit different than most of the rp forums on this website, but I'm pretty sure you guys will love it! So, if you like rping, stay on the lookout for when I make the forum!

* * *

Deku yawned. He blinked drowsily and glanced around the room. _Why is this bed so soft? Oh right..._ Deku groaned. _Of all the people I could get stuck with it just had to be All Might. That definitely makes up my mind about escaping as soon as possible._

He rolled out if bed, taking in the navy blue room. It was one of All Might's guest rooms, which he had given to Deku. Deku stretched and sifted through the pile of clothes All Might had bought for him. Off to the side there was his Night Fox outfit, but he really didn't feel like wearing it. He threw on a plain black t-shirt dark red sweatshirt that was streaked with horizontal white lightning strikes. Out of habit he also selected a pair of dark blue jeans. Glancing around the room, Deku realized that All Might had forgotten to get him any shoes. Shrugging, Deku threw on his red tennis shoes.

Deku headed downstairs into the kitchen. He snatched some random foods and combined them into a bowl. After he threw it in the microwave, it stank, so he ended up just drenching it in soy sauce and choking it down. A few minutes after Deku started cleaning up his meal, All Might made his way downstairs.

"Hey kiddo. You're up early." All Might observed.

Deku nodded silently.

All Might began gathering things to eat from the fridge, but continued his one-sided conversation with Deku. "By the way... you're coming with me to UA today. And possibly tomorrow. And possibly for a kind of long time."

"Why?" Deku asked, annoyance seeping into his voice. _Back to UA? Everyone will recognize me! Or maybe they won't... hopefully they won't._

"You have to be within sixty meters of a pro hero at any given time and, as you know, I work at UA. Most pro heroes that I know personally are too busy doing hero work at this time of day to take care of you, so... yeah."

"Won't the students recognize me?" Deku asked pointedly.

"They didn't see much of you after Bakugo knocked off your mask. His explosion caused a pretty big dust cloud, and by the time it cleared the students were evacuated from the facility." All Might explained.

Deku groaned, but he stopped himself halfway through. _Wait, UA is a highschool, meaning it's full of kids who are highschool age, just like me. It'll be easy to blend in with them and escape!_ Deku paused for a moment, then asked, "Can I stay with you and your class?"

"Sure!" All Might replied, happy that Deku was finally choosing to not be an antisocial outcast. "Why though?"

"It seems fun to hang out with some kids my own age. I never really met any other teenagers like me." Deku lied. In fact, interacting with kids his own age sounded like a nightmare, but it was his best chance to escape.

"Okay..." All Might paused for a moment, then smiled. "You know, if I pull some strings, I can probably get you to join the training exercise today."

Deku perked up. Battle training was one of his favorite things. It kept his mind occupied and honed his skills. "That sounds... nice." He said reluctantly.

All Might grinned. It seemed like the kid was starting to warm up to him. "Anyway, we need to be gone in ten minutes, so I recommend you comb your hair."

"This is as good as it gets."

After the ten minutes were up All Might had rushed Deku into his car and drove towards UA. In the car it was mostly silent, but every once in a while All Might managed to start a small string of conversation with Deku. They soon arrived at the school, where All Might fished through his pockets for his script for a while before actually entering the building.

By the time they got to his classroom they were running six minutes late. All Might threw open the door and practically dragged Deku along behind him. Deku felt the student's curious stares as he flew past them. Before All Might could even address the class someone had already asked, "Who's the new kid?"

All Might laughed and smiled. "Oh, this is Izuku Midoriya, my new adopted son!" As if it were the most natural thing to say in the world. Deku scowled. _He could've come up with a cover or something... I'm going to get so much unwanted attention now._

This earned even more curious stares. Deku hated it. "How old is he?" Someone else asked.

 _They're talking about me like I'm some dog._ Deku though bitterly. He cleared his throat, and announced, "I'm fifteen."

A short silence ensued, but All Might swiftly broke it. "And he's joining us for our training exercise today."

Another pause ensued, but this time a student broke it. "But why isn't he at his own class right now?"

"I'm homeschooled." Deku answered placidly, which wasn't really a lie. They had discussed earlier that Deku was going to stay out of public school until next year, since by then his pro hero restriction would be gone and by then he probably would've become 'acclimated to his new life'. He was mostly just using textbooks and worksheets to school himself at this point. In fact, he was carrying some in the small yellow backpack he was wearing at that very moment. Along with those, he also stored a couple pencils and his Night Fox outfit.

"Alright, alright, enough about Izuku. We do have to get to class. If we finish early maybe you guys can hang out with eachother some more." The whole class nodded silently. "Now, today we're working on some simple hand to hand combat. Just to keep you guys motivated, we'll be doing this as a light hearted competition. We'll do a group fight in the arena, the last four who can still fight and don't get knocked put of the arena get to move onto a tournament."

All Might ushered the students into a large gym that was to be used for the arena. There was a large white line painted a few feet away from the edges of the walls, making a large white rectangle. This marked the boundary for the arena. "Alright, quirks allowed but no using equipment that isn't included in your suits. Just be sure not to injure eachother badly." He told them. He closed the door to the arena and headed towards a viewing area that had a large window facing into the arena.

The minute All Might signaled it was time to start, it was as if he set off an explosion. Everyone was fighting all at once, ice was flying, someone was sliding around, and electricity shot through the air. Deku sidled close to a border of the ring, far away from the rest of the chaos. He planned on allowing them to fight it out and pick off the remainders. Uraraka must've mistaken him for being scared, because she managed to escape most of the fighting and went over to Deku.

"Don't worry about these guys, they won't hurt you." She told him.

Deku shrugged, and was about to answer when an explosion pushed Uraraka over the edge of the ring from behind her. Glancing at the one who did it, and came face to face with Kacchan. An instinctual fear shot through him, but Deku firmly reminded himself of his rules. _Rule number six, never let fear control you._ It occurred to Deku that Kacchan wasn't really as terrifying as he remembered him.

Another explosion shot off right in front of Deku's face, but he dove to the side and rolled away from the edge of the ring. _Scratch that, he is pretty terrifying... c'mon Deku, rule number six! Rule number six!_ Kacchan whirled around to face him as Deku dodged his attack. "I don't know what you're up to, but I know who you are, Deku!" Kacchan roared.

Deku flinched at his name, but he took a deep breath and met Kacchan's eye. A gleam of defiance shone in his eye as Kacchan shot an explosion towards Deku. He dodged to the left, and watched as the explosion knocked another kid out of the ring.

Suddenly an idea struck Deku. _I_ _can't get these people out of the ring easily, but Kacchan can._ He smirked cockily at Kacchan, challenging him. Deku positioned himself in front of a yellow haired kid that had electricity arcing off of him.

Kacchan scowled and shot a series of recklessly aimed explosions after Deku. Deku easily dodged them, but the kid behind him wasn't expecting a sudden attack and they threw him out of the ring.

Deku repeated this process a few times, only earning a small, searing burn on the side of his arm from not dodging a blast fast enough. Fear shot through him every time an explosion was set off, but he ignored it. _I dodge stuff like this all the time. This is no different than dodging a villain's attacks._

After a few minutes, pretty much everyone had been knocked out of the ring aside from four people. Deku himself, Kacchan, some spiky haired kid, and a kid with hair that was for some reason half red and half white. The other students seemed utterly confused at how Deku managed to survive the brutal fight. They all stared again, which Deku still hated.

All Might paired them up, Deku with the spiky haired kid, Kirishima, and Kacchan with half and half, Todoroki. The first of the two pairs to go was Deku and Kirishima.

After everyone exited the room the two went to opposite ends of the ring. All Might blew the whistle, signaling the start of the match. Kirishima immediately hardened his entire arm. He charged straight towards Deku, raising his hardened fist into the air. As he brought it down towards Deku's face, Deku crouched low to the ground and slid around him.

Kirishima nearly tripped and fell out of the ring, but managed to stay inside. As he regained his balance he kicked backwards with his foot and swept it left. This hit Deku on the legs, throwing them out from under him. Deku fell to the side, managing to slam his arm into the floor exactly where he got the scorch mark. Pain radiated from the burn, but Deku did his best to ignore it.

Kirishima pivoted around and pinned down Deku. Deku began to struggle, but Kirishima hardened his arms, making it impossible for Deku to get out of the hold. Suddenly, Deku remembered something he used to do when he was a kid. Every once in a while, when Bakugo got too close for comfort, he would blow in his face. This usually startled people so much that they would pause for a few seconds, giving Deku time to run away.

Deku blew in Kirishima's face, which utterly confused Kirishima. Kirishima lost his focus for a second, which caused his arms to unharden. Deku quickly loosened his leg from Kirishima's grasp and sent it straight into his stomach.

Kirishima winced, his hands automatically moving to his stomach. Deku took this moment to throw Kirishima off. He scrambled to his feet, adrenaline roaring in his ears. Battle strategies bolted through his head, but Deku awaited Kirishima's next move.

Kirishima pushed himself off of the floor, where Deku had thrown him. He swiftly regained his balance, and faced Deku in a fighting stance. He threw a punch towards Deku's side, but Deku spun and grabbed his fist. Adding his own energy to the punch, he made it carry Kirishima forward and onto the floor.

Deku pinned Kirishima and jabbed his fingers into his neck. He quickly found the pressure point, but Kirishima hardened his neck before it could take effect. Instead of using the pressure point, Deku just readjusted his pin so that it was nearly inescapable.

After a few minutes of Kirishima struggling to get up, All Might called the match. Deku had won. As Deku got up and released Kirishima from the pin, the adrenaline began to drain out of his veins and his breathing relaxed.

Kirishima stood up and shot Deku a goofy smile. "Hey, you're pretty good. Super manly. Nice match." He said, holding out his hand for Deku to shake. Deku regarded his hand for a moment, then shook it. It felt odd since he was used to battling villains, and no villain had ever thanked him after a fight.

Shrugging it off, Deku forced himself to return Kirishima's smile. "You weren't half bad either. Good match."

After the two had headed back to the watching area, All Might sent Todoroki and Kacchan into the arena. Deku grabbed some gauze from Yaoyorozu and bandaged up his arm. _Man, I'm lucky I learned first aid from Kurogiri._ He thought to himself.

The minute he finished bandaging himself up, he was swarmed by people. They all kept talking to him, saying their congratulations or asking him how he fought like that. Deku laughed it off and just said he practiced a lot, though he never said whom he first practiced with.

Everyone began to quiet up as the second match began. Deku joined them at the window to watch. _This'll be an interesting match. The second kid.. Todoroki, I think it was, has a half cold and half hot quirk. Seems like a pretty useful quirk, especially in battle._

Kacchan threw the first blow of the match. He started with a left hook, which Todoroki easily dodged by swinging to the side. Before he retracted his arm, Kacchan set an explosion off right next to Todoroki's face.

Deku mentally noted this. It was a pretty smart move. A surprise attack. He could perhaps replicate something like it himself if he punched next to someone's face, then drew back his hand with his knife pointing towards the person's face. This would mean that he would cut them along the face. _If I ever have access to a smoke bomb, or something it, I could probably use that for the surprise attack at the end of a punch as well._

The explosion sent Todoroki sprawling to the floor, or, would have if Todoroki had not sent a wall of ice up to his side. He quickly regained his balance, and slid forward on his ice. He quickly encircled Kacchan in a ring of ice that he continued to slide around on circles.

Kacchan whirled around, constantly keeping Todoroki in his sight. Todoroki began to send ice spikes flying through the middle of the circle, which Kacchan easily dodged. Within minutes, he had trapped Kacchan in a small space in between the spikes.

Kacchan scowled, and suddenly he was flying. By setting off a series of explosion in his palms, he had flown out of the ice cage. Soon he began to fly downwards, and landed directly on Todoroki. He knocked Todoroki to the ground and tried to pin him.

Before Kacchan could get a proper hold on him, Todoroki threw an ice pillar up on his side. The pillar twisted to the side and slapped Kacchan off of Todoroki. Todoroki swiftly got onto his feet, and he set up a large ice wall behind him. Kacchan didn't wait for Todoroki to completely recover, and launched himself forward.

He tackled Todoroki, slamming him into the ice wall behind him. Kacchan pinned Todoroki against the wall and began to mercilessly punch him in the head. Even just watching made Deku's head hurt. Strike after strike hit Todoroki upside the head, and Todoroki did nothing.

Just as All Might was about to cut in, Todoroki's hand shot out and snatched Kacchan's elbow. His elbow froze, causing Kacchan to pause the merciless punches. Todoroki straightened and lifted his hand. It shot out and punched Kacchan upside the head.

Kacchan didn't even wince. He grabbed Todoroki's head, one hand on either side, and set off explosions in both of his hands. Todoroki stood standing for a moment, as if startled, then he swayed and fell to the side. He had passed out.

All Might called the match, and shipped Todoroki to the nurse's office. Kid continued to talk among themselves, as if this was a perfectly normal thing to happen.

Then it was time for the next match. Deku's stomach dropped.

 _This is who I'm facing. An egotistical maniac that will do anything to get his way._

 _Oh god Kacchan, please don't kill me._


	9. Chapter 8

Deku watched as Mina melted away the ice with her acid quirk. He occupied his mind with making observations about her quirk, trying not to think about how much Kacchan had improved over the years. Or about how he didn't really seem to care about injuring his opponents.

 _C'mon Deku! You fight villains worse than him every week!_ He told himself. _You'll be fine once you start battling him._

Usually whenever Deku got in a fight, a dangerous calm washed over him. It was as if time slowed down. Deku would be in an intense state of observing everything. Battle strategies would fly about in his mind, but they somehow managed not to cloud his other thoughts.

Mina called up from the arena, giving the people behind the window a thumbs up. All Might nodded and sent down the next match. As Deku headed down to the arena, Mina passed him. She smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. "Good luck!"

Deku smiled back, "Thanks!"

Kacchan was following behind Deku, and he had stayed silent for most of the walk. The minute Mina disappeared out of sight, Deku felt someone fiercely shove him against the wall. Kacchan scowled at Deku. "Deku, I don't know what you're up to, but I am going to find out whether you like it or not. Even if it kills me."

Suddenly the dangerous calm washed over Deku. He brought his gaze to level Kacchan's, anger sparking in the back of his brain. "Then you, Kacchan, will get killed." He shoved Kacchan's arms off of his shoulders. Deku turned and walked down the hall, ignoring Kacchan's stunned glare.

 _Dang. That felt pretty good._ Deku thought, smirking. Soon he entered the arena. The smirk had been wiped off of his face, replaced by a more serious look. He vaguely heard All Might call the start of the match, but he was in too deep to hear it properly.

He was aware of Kacchan launching towards him. Just before he hit Deku, he stopped. Lifting his right arm, he threw a punch straight for Deku's face. Deku swiftly dodged to the left side, barely escaping bruising his face. Out of nowhere memory shot through Deku. Kacchan punching and then setting off an explosion. While Kacchan was still putting his force into pushing his punch forward, Deku grabbed his arm and pushed it farther forward.

Deku whirled around Kacchan, who was now flying forward. He tugged Kacchan backwards and put him in a headlock. Kacchan reacted quickly. His hands rose and grabbed Deku's arm, setting off an explosion as he did. He managed to escape Deku's weakened grasp, and he spun to face him.

Deku winced, feeling intense pain explode from his arm. Ignoring it, he squinted through the smoke that the explosion had caused. He saw the fait shadow of Kacchan, who was pivoting around, searching for him.

 _The smoke! It's the perfect cover!_ Deku thought, even as the smoke stung his eyes. He strode toward Kacchan, hiding in a thicker part of the smoke cloud. His hand shot out and punched Kacchan in the head. Kacchan took the hit like it was nothing, and whirled around to face Deku, but Deku had retreated into the smoke.

Ideas on what Kacchan's weaknesses could be built in Deku's mind. _His nitroglycerin sweat is useless if he can't ignite it. He uses his hands to ignite it, but I don't know how to temporarily disable them._ His thoughts were interrupted as he was tackled from behind.

Deku was knocked to the floor, with Kacchan on top of him. Kacchan grabbed Deku's head with both of his hands. This confused Deku for a second, then he remembered how he ended his fight with Todoroki. _Not today!_ Deku thought. He grabbed Kacchan's wrists, and jabbed his thumbs into a pressure point on them. This caused intense pain, making Kacchan loosen his grip on Deku.

Deku pushed Kacchan off and rolled to the side, where he scrambled to his feet. Deku winced as the burns on his arm sent an eruption of pain up into his shoulder, but once again ignored it.

Kacchan grimaced. He set off some explosions on his hands, sending pain flying up his wrists. This didn't seem to affect him, as he still turned towards Deku and shot three explosions towards him.

The explosions knocked Deku backwards and onto the ground. Wincing, Deku swiftly regained his balance. He saw Kacchan walking towards him, in an unhurried manner. _An enemy certain of their victory is certain to make a mistake._ He thought quietly to himself.

As Kacchan slowly made his way over to Deku, an idea struck Deku. Deku swayed, as if feeling dizzy. He blinked drowsily. Kacchan smirked. "Had enough already? Well I'm just getting started!"

Kacchan set off an explosion right next to Deku's head. Pain erupted throughout his skull and he fell limply to the ground. Kacchan laughed, and kicked Deku. Deku didn't move.

He leaned down, smirked at the fallen Deku. "This is what happens whe-" He was interrupted by Deku springing back to life. He grabbed Kacchan's head and flipped Kacchan over. Kacchan landed on his other side, flat on his face.

Deku scrambled to his feet and backed away from Kacchan. He smirked challengingly at Kacchan, knowing it would drive him insane. Kacchan scowled and charged towards Deku. Deku dodged to the left, avoiding the attack and ending up behind Kacchan. He jabbed Deku in the side, then retreated backwards again.

This only angered Kacchan more. He charged Deku again, and again, and again, but Deku always stayed just out of reach. Each time Deku managed to land another hit. A jab to the side. A punch to the head. Eventually, Kacchan saw red. He had managed to back Deku against the back of the ring.

"This is it now, Deku! Time for you to die!" Kacchan roared. He leapt towards Deku, propelling himself through the air with explosions.

Deku stayed where he was, waiting for the perfect moment. Time seemed to slow down, and every Moment Kacchan grew closer. _Wait for it... wait for it... Now!_ At the last moment, Deku sidestepped out of the way. Kacchan couldn't stop in time, and flew directly out of the ring.

Deku smiled. He had won. He turned to leave, but before he exited the room he said, "A word to the wise, Kacchan. Before you start a war, make sure you can finish it."

* * *

After their fight had finished, Deku was swarmed by congratulations and praise. A couple people even asked for pointers on how to fight like he did. Everyone had a kind word to say.

He ended up spending the rest of the class time talking with the other students and ignoring aggressive glares from Kacchan. He borrowed some more gauze from Yaoyorozu and wrapped up the burns on his other arm. Two people seemed to take a particular liking to talking with Deku, but he didn't mind. They were pretty nice. It was Uraraka and Iida.

Eventually the class ended and it was time for lunch. All Might took Deku to the teacher's lounge and got them both something to ear. They ate in silence for a few minutes, but Deku broke the silence. "Can I eat with the other kids?"

All Might was surprised. Deku was being more and more outgoing. "I don't know, it might break the pro hero rule..."

"The whole school is full of pro heroes. Even the cafeteria lady is a pro hero." Deku pointed out.

All Might sighed. "Alright." He said, "Just be safe."

Deku nodded seriously. He grabbed his lunch and left the room, heading towards the cafeteria. The minute he was out of All Might's sight he threw the food away, along with the paper tray it came with.

He thought back to the map he saw of the school campus, and found that the nearest exit was past the cafeteria. _Okay, I just have to blend in and get out. Not too hard._ Deku thought to himself, heading towards the cafeteria.

He made his way past the cafeteria, or, as the sign said, "Lunch rush". Deku was halfway across the room when a voice called out to him. "Hey! Izuku!"

"Yeah?" Deku asked, sparks of annoyance kindling in the back of his brain.

"Do you wanna eat with us?" Uraraka asked, gesturing to her and Iida. Todoroki was reluctantly sitting at the table as well.

 _It'll look weird if I say no... I guess I'll just have to escape another day._ Deku nodded silently and allowed himself to be led to the table. Casting a longing look at the exit behind him, Deku sat down.

"Do you have any food?" Uraraka asked, looking concerned.

"I ate a granola bar." Deku lied, hoping this would make Uraraka shut up about him eating.

"You need more than a granola bar for lunch." Uraraka scolded. "Here, have some of my lunch." She slid him some food.

Deku sighed, knowing it was pointless to protest. He ended up having a relatively interesting conversation about quirks, but Todoroki's constant silence kept making Deku feeling awkward.

He attempted to stop the awkwardness by drawing Todoroki into the conversation. "So... uh, you feeling better?"

"Yeah. Recovery girl healed me." Todoroki answered. "And you er.. what's you're name again? Izuku?"

"It's Izuku." Deku confirmed.

"You're fighting style, I feel like I've seen it before. Where'd you learn to fight?" Todoroki asked, giving Deku a suspicious stare.

"I- er... taught myself." Deku said, giving Todoroki his best poker face.

"Interesting." Todoroki said, still giving Deku the suspicious stare. Deku glanced at Uraraka and Iida, who were erasing similar suspicious stares from their faces. 'They know something's up.' Deku thought, sweat dripping down his brow.

The rest of lunch continued as awkwardly as physically possible. Everyone kept asking questions about what it was like to be All Might's adopted son, and why he never used his quirk in the fight. He dodged these questions.

Eventually lunch ended, which Deku was extremely grateful for. He excused himself and left the table. He was about to head towards the exit, when suddenly Aizawa stopped him.

"Where are you going?" Aizawa asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Oh! Mr. Aizawa! I was j-just looking for All Might." Deku stammered, shrinking under Aizawa's gaze. _Caught red handed!_

"All Might wants to meet you in the Nurse's office. Says he wants to get your burns healed." Aizawa said.

"Oh I'll meet him there then." Deku replied awkwardly, pivoting around and walking away.

"The Nurse's office is this way. I'll lead you there."

"Oh.. er, okay." Deku said. _Fudge! So close to escaping!_

The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully. Deku went to the Nurse's office and got his burns healed. He rested and studied for a bit with Recovery girl, and eventually All Might brought him back home. He spent most of the day in his room, writing in his hero journal, which was in an empty spiral that All Might gave him, and studying.

As Deku wrote in his hero journal, he added his first few pages about the students in class 1-A. There was one on Kirishima, Todoroki, and Uraraki. And, of course, he couldn't forget Kacchan. Deku focused on strategies to use against Kacchan a lot more than he did on the others. The topmost of the strategies was, "Piss him off and watch while he messes everything up for himself."


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note**

Sorry for the short chapter! Also, there isn't much about Deku in it. This chapter is kinda just getting some important plot things out of the way.

* * *

 **Two days later...**

Deku pulled his hood up farther over his head, trying not to get noticed. The news that he was All Might's adopted kid spread like wildfire, and he really didn't want to deal with all the stares right now. Luckily, his messy green hair was the most noticeable thing about him, so it was easy to hide from crowds.

Though, it was much harder to hide from crowds with the number one hero sitting right next to you. Luckily he wasn't in his muscle form, so no one recognized him. "Aren't you excited to see who wins?" All Might shouted, practically in his ear.

"Yeah. That's kind of the whole point of watching the sports festival." Deku replied, sounding tired.

All Might beamed, obviously missing the sarcasm in Deku's statement. "Oh, look the first years are entering!" All Might exclaimed excitedly. Deku ignored All Might, and instead turned his attention towards the first years.

The next few hours passed with Deku observing the competitions, and jotting down notes in his hero journal. It was pretty interesting, and it was just getting to the battle between acid girl and the bellybutton laser kid, when Deku felt someone staring at him.

Of course, this wasn't anything new to him. Every time he left the house, stares followed him, but this stare felt different. Most people looked at him with curiosity, and occasionally jealousy, but Deku didn't feel either of these things coming from this stare. This stare was a cold, calculating stare that had locked on to Deku.

Deku shivered and turned around, and his eyes met with the person who was staring at him. Endeavor. He was glaring at him. It was unsettling.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the stare, Endeavor was wondering why this kid felt so familiar. He couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that he had seen this kid before. He knew he ha appeared in the news once or twice, but that wasn't it. When the kid turned around to meet his stare, a look of terror engulfed his face.

Deku shivered. _He shouldn't recognize me. It was a year ago! And I was wearing a mask... but still.. I don't want to take any chances for them to find out about Stain._ He turned his gaze away from Endeavor, and back to the match at hand.

* * *

 **Later...**

Endeavor was walking throughout his house, when he passed Shoto. It was odd for Shoto to willingly go anywhere near Endeavor, so this must've been one of those times he accidentally ran into him. Endeavor took this chance to talk with Shoto.

"Hey, Shoto. What's up that one green haired kid all over the news recently?"

Shoto paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out why his father was talking to him. He eventually just shrugged, and told Endeavor, "He's all Might's adopted son. All Might actually brought him to class a few times. He participated in the training."

"Hmm." Endeavor hesitated for a moment, then spoke, "Was he good at fighting?"

Shoto scowled. He didn't want to tell his father about his suspicion that this kid was the Night Fox, but it would look bad if he didn't reply. "He doesn't look it, but he's pretty good at fighting."

Endeavor nodded, as if this confirmed his theory. "Alright." He replied, and he turned and left down the hall.

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

Shigaraki was ferociously scratching his neck. "That stupid kid... can't believe we had to move bases because of that idiot. And he ruined round one. I'm gonna rot his head off." He growled.

Kurogiri stood, washing a cup behind a counter similar to the counter from the previous base, but there were subtle differences. "All in good time, Shigaraki." He calmed. "We have more important things to deal with right now. Most of which are in regards to our visitor."

A voice came from behind Shigaraki. "I was wondering why you called me here."

Shigaraki smirked. "I was going to ask you to join us, but something tells me you will decline. So instead, perhaps I could just give you a bit of information."

"I wouldn't trust any information from you." The voice growled.

"Then don't let me give it to you, let the news." Shigaraki said. He clicked a button on a remote he was holding. The TV flickered on, depicting a kid wearing a blue hoodie. The hood was pulled up and his back was turned to the camera, but standing next to him was All Might. All Might was grinned, and laughed. "Don't be so shy, Midoriya!" He shouted. He tugged the hood off of the kid's head, revealing a mop of messy, green hair.

The voice paused for a moment. "I'm listening."


	11. Chapter 10

**Author's Note**

Again, sorry about the short chapter. This is once again a chapter mainly composed of things I needed to get out of the way before some... stuff happened. [Insert evil laugh here]

* * *

Deku sighed. He was picking at a bowl of cereal in the kitchen. All Might was sitting across from him, his attention split halfway between eating breakfast and watching the news.

Having nothing else to occupy his mind, Deku glanced at the TV screen. It was playing some report about an injured hero.

"The pro hero, Rockheart, was found dead on Almond Lane, in Musutafu this morning. It is believed that this is the result of an infamous villain, the hero killer, Stain."

At the mention of Stain, Deku froze. _In Musutafu?! Almond Lane? That's only two miles from here! And he must've seen me all over the news recently... well, he doesn't really watch TV. Maybe he doesn't know yet. But he's gonna learn eventually... and when he does.._ Deku didn't even want to consider what might happen.

 _Staying with All Might draws a lot of attention towards me. People know where I am every second of the day. That makes me vulnerable, and puts people around me at potential risk. I need to get away as soon as possible._ Deku told himself. Not that he hadn't been trying to escape in his time there. He had tried to sneak away a lot, but he always got stopped by a pro hero or curious onlooker.

The next few hours passed uneventfully. They drove to school, as they had done the past three days. They got to school and started setting up for the day's training exercise, which had something to do with battling without a quirk. _Hah. I'm gonna cream these guys._ Deku thought.

As the exercise started, with one on one matchups, Deku watched as acid girl fought zappy. Everyone's attention was turned towards the match... and away from Deku. _Perfect._

Deku slowly sidled towards the door, careful not to make too much noise. Within seconds he had slipped out of the room, going completely unnoticed. He walked down the halls, quickly finding his way out of the school. Abandoning all pretense of stealth, Deku bolted, tugging his hood over his hair as he did. He sprinted out of the campus. Oddly enough, no one seemed to care about some random kid booking it out of UA.

 _Okay, first things first. Change into something less recognizable._ Deku thought. He ducked into a nearby public restroom and rummaged through his backpack, where he had stored his night fox outfit, along with a change of clothes and some granola bars. Throwing on a baseball cap and sunglasses was enough to hide his face, and exchanging his hoodie and shorts for a t-shirt and jeans was enough of a change to make him unrecognizable to any nosy reporters.

And just like that, Deku was on his own again. He was free. Unfortunately that didn't last very long...

* * *

Endeavor facepalmed, his hair lighting on fire in annoyance. "So you're telling me that you want me to find your brat? Why did your new son even run away in the first place?!"

"It's complicated." All Might said awkwardly.

"He adopted a vigilante." Aizawa growled lowly.

"And why can't you two get this vigilante yourselves?"

"I can't because I haven't been cleared by Recovery girl to do hero work yet. All Might can't because he's All Might. Can't go anywhere without the media swarming him. It'll scare away the kid if a mob of reporters appears." Aizawa explained.

"And why did you adopt a vigilante?!" Endeavor asked, turning his glare towards All Might.

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose impatiently. "Long story. We can explain it to you later, but first we need to know if you're up to the job or not."

"Of course. It'll be easy."

"Don't underestimate the kid. He's clever." Aizawa growled.

Endeavor snorted. "Yeah, because some broccoli haired teen is so scary."

Aizawa tossed Endeavor a small device. It had an antenna sticking out of the top of it, and a small screen with a red dot on it. It made quiet binging sounds every few seconds.

"What's this?" Endeavor asked, managing to sound curious and offended at the same time.

"Kid's tracker."

"This long story of yours is sounding more and more strange."

* * *

"Unfortunately, we cannot hack into the tracker." Kurogiri said regretfully.

"Do we have any idea where he is?" Shigaraki asked. He subconsciously began to scratch his neck, producing a loud sound that echoed around the silent room. Like scratching nails on sandpaper.

"Vaguely. Somewhere in Musutafu." Kurogiri replied. "But we would need the tracker to be certain of exactly where in Musutafu."

"Then we need to hack into the tracker."

"But we can't."

"Then find someone who can." Shigaraki hissed angrily.

"That would take weeks. If not months." Kurogiri retorted calmly.

An unfamiliar voice interrupted the conversation. "I think I know a guy."


	12. Chapter 11

**Author's Note**

Before we begin, let me say one thing.

/inhale/

OHMYGOD ONE HUNDRED FOLLOWERS! WHAT?! I honestly cannot BELIEVE how many people read this story. It is AMAZING. So, readers, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

* * *

Deku untied his mask and stuffed it in his backpack. He had just fought off a villain with a quirk that made her nails sharp and extendable, which was why he was covered in bleeding cuts. None were very deep though, so he just threw on a hoodie and hoped that would cover his scratches so that he wouldn't draw attention to himself on the street. _I hope these don't get infected... maybe I can find some Neosporin around here somewhere._

A sharp jingling sound startled Deku out of his thoughts. _The cans!_ He thought. A few days earlier, Deku had found some string. He used it to make an alarm system for himself. He tied the string up so that it formed a small tripwire at the entrance of the the abandoned store he was hiding in. He connected the string to a bunch of old cans, which he hung over the door. If the tripwire was moved, the cans would rattle, which, unfortunately, meant that someone was entering his hideout.

Deku froze. He was hidden behind an empty shelf, so he knew that whoever was entering wouldn't be able to see him. He strained his ears to try to figure out which direction the person was going. The footsteps were getting louder. Whoever it was, they coming straight for Deku.

So then, Deku decided, it was time for something risky. As silently as he could, Deku climbed the shelf in front of him. The shelves were almost as tall as the building itself, almost skimming the roof, but there was a small space in between the roof and the top of the shelves. About eight inches in height, this gap could just barely fit Deku, along with his backpack.

Glancing down from his vantage point, Deku saw who the intruder was. He was tall and muscular, with ginger hair. Deku squinted at him for a moment, feeling as if he recognized the man. Realization hit him within seconds. It was Endeavor.

Praying that Endeavor didn't look up, Deku scooted around atop the maze of shelves, slowly making his way towards the back exit of the store. Time seemed to slow down, and after what felt like hours, Deku stealthily clambered down from the shelves. He tiptoed toward the back exit and softly pushed open the door.

 _CREAK!_

Endeavor pivoted around, and came face to face with a kid, his expression one of a child caught with their hand in a cookie jar. Faster than lightning striking, the kid threw the door the rest of the way open and bolted out of the store. "No! Wait!" Endeavor roared, chasing after the kid.

The kid didn't pause for a second. He sprinted down the alleyway, closely followed by Endeavor. The kid was surprisingly fast for his size, able to outpace Endeavor with ease. That, and he was extremely agile. Even as Endeavor chased him, the kid leapt on top of a dumpster, not missing a beat. He launched himself into the air again, catching a windowsill as he did. Boosting himself onto it, the kid scrambled up the side of a building, leaving Endeavor unable to follow him.

* * *

 **Three days later...**

Deku sighed with relief. He had just evaded Endeavor, for the third time that day. He had no idea how Endeavor kept finding him, but the whole find-and-run thing was annoying Deku. He was sitting on a roof, having just climbed onto a building and went roof jumping away from Endeavor.

He was tired from sleep loss, as Endeavor had found him two times in the previous night, forcing Deku to stay awake and alert in case Endeavor found him again. In fact, Endeavor had stopped Deku from sleeping for the three previous nights. He almost fell asleep just sitting on the roof, but the sound of footsteps behind him jolted him awake.

Without even turning around to see who it was, Deku flew to his feet, prepared to leap to a roof a few feet away from him. A hand snatching him by the throat stopped him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice growled. Not just any voice, Shigaraki's voice.

Deku resisted the urge to gulp, worried that his adam's apple would hit Shigaraki's fifth finger. "Shigaraki." He growled lowly. "What do you want?"

"Oh! Such a rude way to greet an old friend! And when I'm only trying to help you to!" Shigaraki said, laughing.

"You were never a friend of mine." Deku replied, his voice dropping into a deadly calm.

"Says you." Shigaraki retorted. "Perhaps this will change your mind." He said, smiling wolfishly. Deku felt something on his head, a quick pulling sensation, as if something had just been wrenched out of it. Shigaraki dangled the object in front of Deku's face. It was small and circular, with a sharp spike in the bottom of it. "Those heroes you've been hanging out with planted a tracker on you."

"Why do you think I left them?" Deku snapped.

"Because you're scared." Shigaraki replied in a matter-of-fact voice.

Deku answered only with silence, which said more than his words would.

Shigaraki smirked. "Now that I've done you the favor of removing this tracker, I feel like it's time you gave me a favor."

"No." Deku stated simply.

"Too bad. You don't have a choice." Shigaraki replied. A few seconds later, Deku felt a sharp pain in his head. A few seconds after that, Deku felt nothing.


	13. Chapter 12

_Blip. Blip. Blip. Blip._

The tracking machine beeped in a monotone rhythm. Endeavor glanced at the screen. The kid was a few blocks away, but staying in the exact same place.

This struck Endeavor as odd. Over the few days he had been tracking him, the kid never stayed anywhere for long. He was always moving. Always running. Always a step ahead.

Though, Endeavor didn't blame him. As far as he knew, the kid had lived on the streets most of his life. Fighting crime and being told that if he was caught, he would be arrested for doing what was right. A twinge of pity pinched the back of Endeavor's mind, but he brushed it aside.

He neared the glowing dot on the screen. No kid to be seen. Endeavor sighed, knowing that this meant the kid was probably on a roof. He was beginning to despise climbing.

After a slow and grueling ascent, Endeavor heaved himself over the edge of the building and onto the roof. Still, there was no kid to be seen. Endeavor glanced at the screen of the tracking machine, which told him that the kid was directly in front of him.

Glancing upwards, there was still nothing. But... was that a metallic glint? There it was, sitting on the roof. Had he not know better, Endeavor would've dismissed it as a malformed nail or screw. Fortunately, he did know better. It was the kid's tracker.

* * *

Deku groaned. There was a dull, throbbing pain in the back of his head, and something seemed to restrict him from moving. He groggily opened his eyes, blinking to make his vision less hazy. As blurry shapes began to take form before his eyes, Deku noticed that he was in a bar. Glancing down at his arms, he saw that they were bound by rope. As were his legs.

"Didn't change the decoration at all, did you?" Deku asked, trying his best to sound bored.

A dry laugh answered him. "You haven't changed a bit." Shigaraki replied. "Still the same scared little kid hiding behind a mask of bravery."

Deku scowled, replying only with silence. The statement was more true than Shigaraki realized. There was a reason that one of his rules was not to let fear stop him.

"Or, I should say a mask of lies." Shigaraki continued, smirking. "You still haven't told them yet, have you?"

Deku squinted confusedly at Shigaraki. "Told who what?"

"The heroes you were so eager to betray us for, you haven't told them about your 'teacher', have you?"

Deku once again stayed silent, answering only with a deadpan glare.

Shigaraki chuckled. "That's what I thought. After all, they wouldn't be so kind to you if they knew." Shigaraki continued, meeting Deku's glare.

Deku broke the eye contact, electing to stare guiltily at the ground. 'He's right. If they knew...' He didn't even want to finish the thought. Instead, he decided to interrupt Shigaraki's relentless string of insults. "How'd you find out about him?"

"We've known for a while. In fact, we knew ever since you joined us. You talk in your sleep, and we pieced it together from there." Shigaraki explained.

"What skilled detectives you are." Deku replied drily.

"Least we weren't spies." Shigaraki growled.

"I did what I had to, Shigaraki. You were going to hurt innocents."

"Did what you had to? Don't feed me that hero crap. You're just as bad as All Might." Shigaraki hissed.

"And you're worse than him." Deku countered. "At least All Might doesn't purposely hurt people."

"You sure about that?" Shigaraki asked, raising an eyebrow. "As long as he believes they're useless, he doesn't seem to care who he hurts. You know this better than most."

Deku shrank under Shigaraki's words. They struck home, just as Shigaraki intended. "Man, I really need to stop sleep talking, huh?"

"Would do you wonders." Shigaraki agreed.

"So... what now? Are you gonna ask me to join you? Torture me for revenge? Hand me over to Stain?" Deku asked, sighing defeatedly.

"A mixture of all three." Shigaraki replied placidly.

An unfamiliar voice spoke from behind Shigaraki. "You done with the kid yet?" The source of the voice was a young man, possibly a teen. Dark, wrinkled skin marked his body, separated from the clean skin with stitches. Dark circled hung under his eyes, and the patchwork separating his top and bottom jaw gave him a sort of permanent grin.

"For now." Shigaraki replied, almost seeming disappointed. Deku squinted at the patchwork man confusedly. He had never seen anyone like him before, though, he did seem like someone that would join the League.

Shigaraki caught Deku's confused look. He smirked. "Oh, I forgot. Deku, meet Dabi. The one who gave us access to your tracker. Talented hacker, skilled fighter, and the newest member of the League of Villains."

"Glad to make your acquaintance." Deku replied sarcastically.

Shigaraki's grin broadened. "Almost forgot to mention. He is quite talented at torture." He said nonchalantly, as if the two were just having a casual conversation.

These words shot a lance of fear directly through Deku's heart. Dabi smirked, enjoying Deku's fear. He lifted his hand, and suddenly there was a glowing, blue fireball in it. He held it directly in front of Deku's face, as if showing off something exciting. Deku flinched. He found it all to similar to the way Kacchan would hold his hand in front of his face, setting off small explosions that sent blistering heat across Deku's face.

Dabi grinned, and suddenly grabbed Deku's wrist. Deku recoiled in pain, as the blistering heat engulfed his arm. To say it burned would be the biggest understatement Deku had ever heard. It didn't burn. It stabbed thousands of red hot needles into Deku's arm, and ripped them out again all at once. He couldn't hear anything. Couldn't see anything. Everything had been engulfed in a whirlwind of flames and pain. He tried to scream, but no sound would come out.

As soon as the flames came, they disappeared. But the pain didn't retreat as easily. Deku's arm throbbed, as if the flames were still there, burning brightly beneath his skin. Deku glanced upwards, trying to figure out exactly why the flames had stopped. There, standing in the middle of the bar, was... Shoto Todoroki?!

Todoroki had engulfed Dabi's right hand in ice, preventing him from producing any flames from that hand. Scowling, Dabi shot a blast of flames at Todoroki, which was blocked by an ice wall. At the same time, Shigaraki dove forward, hand outstretched. He was blocked by another ice wall. Todoroki planted his hand on the floor, freezing all of the ground in the bar. Small icicles stuck up from his makeshift ice rink.

Ignoring the pain as best he could, Deku maneuvered himself so that he could kick at one of these icicles. It broke off of the floor, and Deku dove forward and grabbed it in his mouth. Working quickly, Deku used the icicle to cut the bindings off of his arms, then his legs. Scrambling to his feet, Deku managed to slip and slide across the bar, and slam into the opposite wall. A hand grabbed him by the hood and dragged him out of the door.

An ice wall formed behind Deku as he quickly regained his footing. The sound of ice crumbling behind him was all the encouragement he needed, and he bolted, closely followed by Todoroki. Behind Todoroki, Shigaraki and Dabi sprinted.

There was almost no one outside, being that they had exited in a dark and dirty alleyway. But a few blocks outside of the alleyway, Deku knew it grew very crowded. If he could get there, he could blend into the crowd and escape. So that's where he headed, with Todoroki following his lead. Deku didn't know how long he ran, only that he did. Even the throbbing pain in his arm dulled with the sheer amount of adrenaline shooting through his veins.

After what could've been hours or minutes, Deku saw it. A large crowd of people on a busy sidewalk. His terrified sprint slowed to a calm walk, and he disappeared into the flow of people. Next to him, a red and white haired hero in training did the same.

Later, Deku left the safety of the crowd and found his way into a secluded alleyway. Seconds later, Todoroki emerged from the shadows next to him. Without skipping a beat, Deku spoke. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

The teen met his eyes, a placid, almost bored look on his face. "As do you."


	14. Chapter 13

"So, explain." Shoto said, his face wearing a deadly calm look that Deku found quite familiar. It was the face Deku himself made whenever he was about to go on a stubborn streak.

Deku sighed gustily. "Don't tell anyone." He warned darkly. "Not Endeavor. Not All Might. Not Iida. Not-"

"I get it." Shoto interrupted.

"You see, it all started when..." Deku began, then trailed off. He didn't want to tell Shoto anything. In fact, he REALLY didn't want to tell Shoto anything. "When..." As fast as lightning, Deku whirled around, prepared to bolt away. Without a moment's hesitation, Shoto's hand shot out and snatched Deku's injured wrist.

Pain shot up Deku's hand, as if hundreds of knives had just stabbed into his wrist. Giving a quiet hiss of pain, Deku froze. "You do know that running away just makes you even more suspicious, right?" Shoto asked, an edge of annoyance in his voice.

"You do know I don't care, right?" Deku shot back, keeping his back turned towards Shoto. He sighed, knowing there was no other way out of this predicament. "It started when I was seven..."

And so, Deku told him everything. Stain, the escape, the League. Everything. It almost felt good to get it all off of his chest. To finally talk about it to someone. Almost. The feeling still lingered. The regretful feeling. The guilty feeling. Like he was betraying someone. And he was. He was betraying his own rules. He was betraying Stain. _No._ Deku told himself firmly. _Stain doesn't deserve my respect. He killed heroes. Still does. And he injured Ingenium. And he saved me..._

Nonetheless, Deku continued. The door had been opened, and he couldn't shut it again. About halfway through, Shoto released his arm, half expecting Deku to bolt. Of course he didn't. He stayed. Frozen in place. Both unable and unwilling to move.

He told Shoto things he had never told anyone. Things he himself refused to think about. How, even on the street, kids bullied him because he was quirkless. He was useless. And Deku had wanted so badly to tell them that he wasn't useless. That he was the Night Fox. But he couldn't. And, as for fighting back, there was no chance of that. Deku couldn't just go around beating up other kids. They would get suspicious.

And even then, even with him being the Night Fox, even with him helping people nearly every night, Deku still felt this nagging feeling of worthlessness. He could just never get rid of it. It cause him to question himself. Question why he couldn't just learn to be happy. Why he couldn't just learn to live. Why he couldn't be good enough for himself.

Even as his story came to an end, Deku stayed. His eyes glazed as he stared off into space. As he ended the story, Deku gave a sigh like a deflating balloon heaving it's last breath. A long silence ensued, which Deku broke. "And you? How did you find me?"

Shoto didn't hesitate. "I saw a group of suspicious looking people carrying an unconscious kid. Took a closer look, and realized that it was you. So, I followed them to their base and managed to hide in the rafters. When they started burning you, I thought it was time to step in." He explained placidly.

"Well... thanks." Deku said, bringing his burnt wrist towards himself. Sheltering it from the outside.

Shoto was about to reply, when he heard the sound of an engine revving. It sounded strangely close, even though they weren't anywhere near a street. Deku had heard it to, and the two spoke in unison. "Iida."

Iida didn't usually use his quirk unless he was training, and it would be odd for someone to train in such a sketchy part of the city. The two headed straight for the sound, and found themselves directly in front of Stain. Behind Stain, Iida lay, immobilized on the ground.

Deku froze, emotions crashing over him like a tidal wave. Freezing him in place like a deer caught in the headlights. "Ahh. Izuku. Long time no see." Stain says, in an all but friendly tone.

Deku nearly replied, but stopped himself. This was no time for idle talk. He regarded Stain with silence, reaching for one of his knives. His hands met empty air. _The villains! They took my knives!_ Meaning he was facing an established murderer, while also completely unarmed. This situation was getting better and better.

Instead of throwing a knife at Stain, he simply pulled his mask over his face, one of his possessions that the villains had left him with. "A lot has happened since I was gone. Been hanging out with the big leagues, eh?" Stain continued, as if he was talking to an old friend. Neither teen made a move.

"I'm proud of you, kid." At this, Deku couldn't help but feel happy. He quickly quenched the feeling. "Though, I'm less proud of you running away from All Might." Stain growled.

"The chance to get trained by the greatest hero of all time! And you waste it. I can't say I would make the same decision in your place." Stain continued. Deku's stomach dropped. If the situation went as the conversation was turning, then he couldn't imagine it ending well.

"All of the fake heroes I've seen, and yet, I never suspected my own prodigy would turn into one. An ungrateful vigilante that feigns innocence. Just as bad as the fake heroes I kill on a daily basis." Chills shot down Deku's spine. This situation was turning the wrong way, and nothing he could do would stop it. "I wonder if it would make too much difference to add another corpse to the bodycount." Stain hissed. He swiftly lunged forward, but not swiftly enough. Fast as lightning, Shoto threw up an ice wall in front of Deku, blocking Stain's attack.

And just like that, the spell was broken. Deku vaulted over the wall, and straight over the head of Stain. He slid next to Iida, and glared directly at Stain, who had whirled around to face Deku. He lurched forward, knife aimed towards Deku, but Deku leapt to the side. As Stain passed, he turned his knife to the side. It barely nicked Deku's cheek, but a splotch of blood was left on it. Stain smirked, and brought the knife to his face. Before he could lick the blood off of the blade, Shoto launched himself forward and knocked the blade out of his hand.

Stain dove to the side and caught his knife. And so the fight continued. Stain couldn't manage to land a hit on Deku after that, with him dodging fluidly to the side, or sometimes, up the side of a building. Even when he cornered the kid, Shoto would block him with an ice wall or attack him from behind. Despite this, slowly but surely, Stain was tiring them. Shoto was beginning to get frostbite from all the ice he had been forming, and Deku was panting from overexertion.

Iida's voice cut through the chaos of the battle. "Midoriya! Todoroki! Run! This is my fight. This is my fault. Don't get yourselves killed because of my mistake!"

"We can't leave you to die!" Deku yelped, dodging another attack from Stain.

"Yes, you can! Please, run!" Iida shouted, his voice strained.

"Tenya, no matter what you have done, giving up instead of trying to redeem yourself is more shameful than the act in itself. So get up, and fight!" Shoto yelled.

Stain took this moment of distraction to slice his knife across Deku's leg. Pain stung across the cut, and Deku winced. Stain grinned and licked his knife, causing Deku to freeze.

Stain stalked forward, a chilling frown disfiguring his features. "Putting yourself in danger to save someone, even though they caused the mess that you're saving them from. Perhaps you are more heroic than I thought." Stain mused. "And don't even think about attacking me half and half. I can-" He was cut off as Iida flew under Deku and barreled into his legs, knocking him to the floor.

Shoto took this moment to freeze Stain to the floor, trapping him in a pile of ice. "Iida, go get some pros." Shoto said calmly. "We'll watch Stain while you get back." Iida nodded and ran off without protest, leaving the two in silence. Shoto broke it, "You need medical attention." He said.

"No, I'm fine. Really. Once I unfreeze-"

"That wasn't a question." Shoto growled, walking over towards Deku. "You're bleeding pretty badly from the leg. I'm surprised you haven't passed out from blood loss." He tore a small patch of cloth off of his shirt, and wrapped it around the injured part of Deku's leg. As he tended to Deku's wound, the effects of bloodcurdle began to wear off. Eventually, Deku's weakened legs couldn't stand to support him anymore, and he fell forward. Shoto caught him, and carefully lay him on the ground.

Blood continued to pour from Deku's wound, turning the cloth on his leg scarlet red. He felt lightheaded, and his thoughts swirled around his head. The sound of breaking ice echoed through his head. Stain had escaped from his frigid prison.

He made no move towards Deku or Shoto. Deku pushed himself into a sitting position, blinking dizzily as he did. Shoto stood in front of Deku, trying to keep Stain away from him. Stain paused for a long moment, then spoke. "Perhaps you are a true hero." He mused. "There is only one way to know, I suppose." He turned, staring directly into Deku's eyes. "The one who murdered your mother is known as the Cheshire Killer." Stain said, then he disappeared into the shadows.

The rest of the night passed in a blur to Deku. Some people in costumes showed up, and he was rushed to what he assumed was a hospital. After that he was given some sort of medication, which only caused him to get drowsier. Eventually he sunk into a fitful sleep, which was plagued by nightmares.


	15. Chapter 14

**Author's Note**

OKay, so first of all, sorry for the short chapter! Second, and more importantly, THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT! Every wonderful review, every follow, every favorite, all the support that this fanfic gets just makes me extremely happy that a rookie author like me could actually succeed at writing something people want to read! Third and finally, I'm going to put this on a more regular update schedule. I will attempt to update every other day. The reason for this is that I will be updating my other fanfic on the days that I do not update this fanfic. Thank you for understanding!

* * *

 _Darkness_

Deku was drifting among the darkness.

The fog was shifting. Melting away.

He was lying in a hospital bed.

Deku was dimly aware of a small, stinging pain in his leg. He tried to move his head, but something wouldn't permit him to. His heartbeat quickened as he tried to move, but nothing happened. He was frozen. Trapped in his own body.

Out of the corner of his eye, Deku saw a shadow. It was vaguely humanoid, but every time Deku tried to focus his gaze on it, it grew hazy. The shadow was pitch black, and seemed to radiate an aura of darkness. Every part of it screamed danger to Deku.

Only one part of the shadow wasn't pitch black. It's smile.

The smile was a cheshire cat smile, with the corners of it's mouth turned up so far it seemed like it could barely fit on the creature's face. It's cheshire smile was full of teeth as sharp as daggers, and drenched in scarlet red blood.

The creature began to move. Silently, it crept towards Deku, smiling all the while. Deku desperately tried to move, but his body refused. He tried to scream out for help but there was no sound. As the creature grew closer, everything became more and more silent. Deku couldn't even hear his own heartbeat.

All in one moment, the creature lunged. Deku jolted upwards, and just as he did, the creature disappeared. He was drenched in sweat, and heaving frantic breaths. His heart was pounding at a mile a minute and it took him a moment to realize that the creature wasn't real.

Glancing around, Deku realized that he was in a hospital. Blinking the tiredness out of his eyes, Deku saw that he wasn't alone in the room. Tenya was passed out on the cot to the left of Deku. Loud snores echoed throughout the room. To his right, Shoto was laying on his bed, head facing towards the ceiling. His eyes were closed, but his breathing betrayed that he hadn't fallen asleep yet.

Deku was about to ask if he was awake, when Shoto broke the silence. "Nightmare?" He asked cooly.

"Yeah..." Deku replied, giving a dry laugh.

They lapsed into silence once again. It continued for a few seconds, and then Deku hesitantly said, "What happened?"

"Stain escaped and the pro heroes showed up. You ended up passing out a few minutes after we got to the hospital." Shoto said curtly.

Deku nodded, then paused for a moment. "I've been meaning to ask... why do you never use your left side? I mean, people say you have fire and ice, but you only ever seem to use ice."

Shoto paused for a moment, as if thinking over his answer. "It's because of my father..."

Shoto continued to tell Deku his entire story. How his father had driven his mother mad, and she burned the scar onto his face with boiling water. He refused to use his father's quirk in battle after that.

Once Shoto had finished, Deku stared off into space. The look on his face made him seem to be calculating something. "But... it's your quirk, isn't it?"

Shoto paused for a long moment, then asked, "What?"

"I mean that it's your quirk, not Endeavor's. And you can't just pretend you only have an ice quirk. After all, your fire and ice aren't two different quirks. They're one quirk. Two sides of the same coin." Deku explained.

This seemed to startle Shoto into silence. The silence lasted for what seemed to be an eternity. Deku became aware that he was feeling a little bit dizzy. Most likely due to whatever medication the hospital had given him. He lay his head back down on his pillow, feeling as if he was sinking.

He was dimly aware of a quiet voice asking, "Midoriya?" but he was too tired to respond. Within seconds, he had fallen asleep leaving Shoto to think over what Deku had said alone.

* * *

Shoto yawned, stretching. Blinking drowsily, he rubbed his eyes and glanced at his surroundings. He was mildly surprised he had even managed to fall asleep the previous night. Glancing to his side, he saw that Tenya and Midoriya were both out cold.

Two people were standing in the room, talking to eachother in hushed voices. One was Shota Aizawa, and the second was a vaguely familiar man wearing a tan trench coat. Their conversation stopped as they realized that Shoto was awake.

The man in the trench coat was the first to speak. "Hello! I am Naomasa Tsukauchi. You might remember me from the aftermath of the USJ attack. I am here to ask you some questions."

 _That's where I remember him from._ Shoto realized. He paused for a moment, then nodded his consent.

Tsukauchi ended up asking Shoto a ton of questions, taking notes all the while. Most were about Stain, but the tide of the questioning slowly turned to Midoriya.

"How did you find Midoriya?"

"Well..." Shoto paused for a long moment. "It's a long story... I found him being kidnapped by the League of Villains. Then I followed them, and ended up saving him. Eventually we found Iida, and fought Stain to stop him from getting killed."

Tsukauchi jotted something down on his notepad. "Did you get any information about Deku's past or why he ran away out of him?"

Shoto answered this with a long pause. He hesitantly inhaled, intending to tell the detective everything, but stopped himself. Again, he paused for a long moment, then spoke, "I did, but... it isn't my place to share it."

Tsukauchi nodded. "I understand how you feel, but this is very important. If Midoriya does not provide any information about this, which wouldn't be too surprising coming from him, it might land him in legal trouble."

"If Midoriya refuses to tell you, then I will tell you. If not, then you will already know." Shoto replied cooly.

Tsukauchi sighed. "Very well. I will let you rest then. Get well soon." He said, turning to leave.

Just as he was about to exit, Shoto stopped him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Don't be too hard on him when you find out."


	16. Chapter 15

_"_ _The one who murdered your mother is known as the Cheshire Killer." Stain said, then he disappeared into the shadows._

The scene kept replaying in Deku's mind. Like a song stuck on repeat, those same words over, and over, and over. Cheshire Killer. Cheshire Killer. Cheshire Killer. Every time the words found their way into his mind, he felt a fire kindling within him. A burning thirst for revenge.

Shoto had gently questioned him about it when he woke up. Deku had played dumb. He wasn't quite sure why, but he did. Shoto took this as a sign that Deku had been too lightheaded at the time to remember Stain's words. He didn't mention them to Deku, thinking it would only upset him.

Of course, their conversation was interrupted by Endeavor barging into the room.

Endeavor threw open the door, a stormy look on his face. His hair was burning brightly. As the flames leapt, Endeavor charged forward. Snatching Deku by his shirt, he lifted him in the air. "You! I've been trying to catch you for a week! Little snot, you're working with Stain, aren't you? That's where I saw you. Back in Hosu a year ago!"

Deku forced himself not to flinch away from Endeavor's flames. He gulped, and evenly returned Endeavor's glare. "I can explain." Deku replied calmly. "But... please put me down first."

"That would be a good idea." Aizawa said placidly from the doorway.

Endeavor's scowl deepened. He unceremoniously dropped Deku, and growled, "Better be a damn good explanation."

Deku winced, stabbing pain shooting up his leg. He glanced at Tenya out of the corner of his eye, who was still fast asleep, then returned his gaze to Endeavor. Pausing for a moment, Deku debated actually telling him. After some consideration, he turned towards Aizawa and asked, "Could I, er... talk about it alone? Maybe with Tsukauchi? Without Mr. Flamey Face here?"

Endeavor looked like he was about to set Deku on fire. Aizawa held back a sly smirk at Endeavor's new nickname, "That can be arranged."

* * *

Minutes later Deku found himself in a secluded corner of the hospital courtyard. He was sitting on a small, wooden bench next to Tsukauchi. Deku was staring down at his hands while he nervously twiddled his thumbs.

Deku's thoughts zipped around his mind, like over energetic birds. 'He's gonna hate me - But I have to tell him - Do I really? - And All Might will be so disappointed - I have to - Don't want to.'

"Midoriya, you're muttering." Tsukauchi said, tearing Deku away from his thoughts.

"Oh... heh, sorry." Deku replied sheepishly.

"So, you were going to explain?" Tsukauchi gently prompted.

"Do I have to?" Deku asked, seeming to shrink within himself.

"Unfortunately, yes."

Deku sighed, and reluctantly explained. "When my mom was killed, I ended up on the street. A week went by, and then Stain found me. He... took me in. Kept me fed, made sure I stayed healthy... trained me. He wasn't half bad. But then... seven years passed and he decided to take me on one of his missions. I had no idea about... it at the time. He tried to get me to help him, but I refused. I managed to run away, and was on my own for a while. Eventually I found the League of Villains and... well, you know the rest." 1

Tsukauchi went silent for a moment, then asked, "And may I ask why you ran away?"

"Stain was in town." Deku replied, staring down at his hands. "And I really didn't want deal with him."

"But we could've protected you." Tsukauchi said gently.

"Yeah, but that would've required explaining this... Not really how I planned on spending my Friday."

"Were you ever planning on telling us?"

"To be honest, I kind of was planning on escaping before it came to that." Deku admitted sheepishly. "No offense. I just... I'm better off on my own. On the streets."

Tsukauchi frowned slightly. "I can't say that's a lifestyle I recommend."

Deku smiled sheepishly. "Why not? You get to do pretty much whatever you want. Go where you want to go. Sure, it's not luxurious, but if I have to give up luxury for freedom, then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." He gave a dry laugh. "Of course, I guess I don't have much choice in that anymore..."

Now that Deku thought about it, his life on the streets wasn't that bad. Fighting villains, going roof hopping. Sure, he missed meals quite often, and he was constantly searching for supplies, but that wasn't too bad. In fact, compared to others, Deku was pretty lucky. He knew how to fight. He was armed, with both knives and a rapier wit. He usually had enough to eat, well, at least enough to survive.

Tsukauchi gave Deku a pitying glance. "I guess this questioning is over. Isn't it time to get you back to bed?"

"Yeah..." Deku said reluctantly, grabbing a set of crutches he had leaning against the bench. "I suppose it is."


	17. Chapter 16

**Author's Note**

Okay, so I know I haven't stayed to my update schedule.. And I am so so so so so sorry, but once again, I'm changing the upsate schedule. The previous update schedule, updating every other day, was extremely taxing and it impacted the quality of the chapters I could get out. Because of that, I now am updating once a week. I apologize for any inconvienience this may cause, but this is just how I have to do it.

* * *

Deku sighed, staring off into space. The shadowed ceiling stared back at him. The sounds of the hospital at night softly echoed in his ears. The low hum of an MRI being taken a floor below him, the quiet ticking of a clock counting down the seconds until morning, the sharp keening of crickets outside. Even at night, everything was abuzz with sound. Not a moment of silence.

In fact, life was never silent. Even if all sound around you ceased completely, you would still hear your heart beating, your lungs breathing, the blood pounding through your veins. Sound is inescapable. A relentless force that refuses to dissipate.

In this way, Deku's thoughts were very similar to sound. His thoughts were a river. Sometimes it flowed with barely a trickle, other times it was a rushing waterfall, tumbling downwards and pooling on the ground, but it never stopped moving entirely. The current, whether slow or swift, was constantly there. Relentless and inescapable.

This current carried the same thought with Deku always. Exactly the same thought over and over. Revenge. A burning flame igniting in his chest, fueled by anger, pain, and rage, had been lit in Deku. And it burned. It clawed at his throat, belching acrid smoke that choked Deku, smothering his entire being. He wanted to quench the fire. To make sure it's embers went cold and never burnt him again, but he couldn't. Only one thing could quench this fire, and he knew it was impossible. He couldn't go after the Cheshire killer. Could he? Perhaps he-

"Midoriya?" A voice cut through the darkness, tugging Deku out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?" Deku asked hesitantly.

"I want to talk to you about something." The voice said, which Deku had now identified as Iida.

"Talk away." Deku prompted, doing his best to sound nonchalant, even though something about Iida's words put him on edge. It had a familiar tone to it that wasn't too different from All Might's tone whenever he was about to start questioning him about his 'history'.

"It's about some of the things Stain said during the fight... he called you his protege." Iida said nervously.

Deku shot a glance at Shoto's bed, hoping that perhaps Shoto could somehow drag him out of answering the question. Unfortunately, Shoto was quite clearly out cold. While no snores echoed from his bed, his eyes were closed, his breathing relaxed, and his face portraying a slightly melancholy look that he wouldn't allow when he was awake. Sighing gustily, Deku reluctantly answered, "Well... There's a lot of stuff you don't know about me that I'm not really comfortable sharing." His voice shook. Pausing for a moment, Deku forced all of the emotion out of his voice, and spoke. "But, you do have a right to know. All I think I can tell you right now is that when I was a kid, Stain got me off the street. I became his, uh- how do I put this? Student. I became his student. He taught me how to fight, how to take care of myself, he pretty much raised me, but then I learned about... it. The people he-" Deku's breath hitched, emotion threatening to overflow into his voice. "He..." Deku couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. To think that he had ever worked with, even been friends with, looked up to someone who had innocent blood on his hands sickened him, leaving him with an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. Like he had swallowed a rock. "I ran away when I found out."

Deku gulped. "I- I'm sorry." He said, his voice edged with pain. Words poured from his mouth, like water through a broken dam. "I know you probably hate me, because Stain and your brother. A-And I understand that. I deserve that, b-but please know that I never... I never wanted any of this to happen. I just wish that I could've stopped him. I could've captured him, and then all of those innocent lives... everyone that Stain killed... every life that he ruined, I could've stopped that, but I didn't. And now I can't. And I never will be able to. And I deserve your hate because I didn't stop him. I didn't stop him, even though I could've. If I had just pushed myself more, or if I tried harder, or- or-"

"Stop." Iida's voice cut through Deku's rambling like a knife, stopping the onslaught of words in it's tracks. It was as hard as steel, but had warmth in it. "Don't put yourself down like that. You didn't know any better, and you did your best. You helped me even when I thought that no one could ever help me again. You were a friend even when I didn't want one. I don't hate you, and I never will, because you're a hero. You stick your nose where it doesn't belong, and when you smell suffering, you fight to end it. You have helped people. People like Todoroki."

Deku stiffened, confused by Iida's words. "I never helped-"

"Yes you did. I don't know what you did, or how, but ever since he found you and brought you back here, he's been acting different. Haven't you noticed? He smiles more, he's less stoic, he just seems so much more... happy. And I know it has to be because of something you said to him. You helped him."

Deku paused, the weight of Iida's words bearing down on him. He had helped someone. It made him feel warm. It wasn't warm like a fire. A fire was a deadly warmth. A warmth that drew you in then burned you. This warm was like another body. The kind of warmth you get from a hug. The kind that blossoms within you and grows into a beautiful flower.

But that kind of warmth was unreliable. That kind of warmth was living. Living things always died. Fire, on the other hand, could continue forever if it was constantly fueled. And fueling it was easy. The flower, on the other hand, needed to be watered. It needed to be surrounded by warmth to prosper. To be bathed in sunlight before it grew. Deku could not provide sunlight. He couldn't provide water, and the only warmth he had was a fire that, in it's bright blaze, would set the flower aflame. Then the flower would be only fuel for the flame that was burning Deku alive.

And there was still only one way to put it out.

Deku allowed the ghost of a smile to alight his features.

"I didn't help him. I merely handed him the tools to help himself."

And with that, the sounds of the night ensued, weaving an intricate lullaby.

Hours later, sleep engulfed him.

* * *

 _A fox._

 _A fox scurried along the bank of a stream. Sounds berated it's ears. Relentless sounds. The sounds if birdsong. Light winds rising over the grassy hills. Tree branches knocking gently against one another. It leaned down and sipped, cool water filling it's throat._

 _The fox strange. It's fur was not the bright orange of most foxes. It was gray. Not dull gray, but silvery. Reflective. Like dew drops on grass in the morning. It's large ears were pointed upwards, listening for anything nearby. They were tinted black at the ends, like someone had begun to paint them, but got tired of it after a few strokes. It's paws were the same color. Dark, abyssal black. Like the fox had dipped it's paws in ink. The dark coloring stopped right before it left the fox's toes. Once again, the color was repeated at the end of the fox's tail. It almost looked like the fox had been painting, and used his tail as a paintbrush._

 _Deku moved closer to the fox, trying to see it's face. When Deku was mere inches away from it, the fox's head turned, fixing Deku with a ice cold glare. It's eyes. It's eyes were bright, burning pools of light. They were amber in color, but that was no way to describe it. They weren't just amber. They were fire. Fire in every meaning of the word, in all of it's danger, it's warmth, it's burning, and it's beauty._

 _The fox blinked lazily at Deku, as if waiting for him to do something. When Deku did nothing, it snorted impatiently and pressed it's paw to Deku's hand. Immediately, he felt burning sensation. As if he was holding fire within himself. He had the fire. The same fire he saw in the fox's eyes was flowing through his veins. Beating with his heart. Filling his lungs. It burned but not badly. It almost felt good. Like finally being warm after a lifetime of cold._

 _Then the fox took it's paw away from Deku, and the fire grew worse. It was no longer helpful warmth, it was damaging warmth. Burning heat that roared at Deku's insides. Pumping pain into his veins. He couldn't contain it. It was breaking loose._

 _Just like that the fire exploded out of him, burning everything nearby. Within seconds the peaceful forest had turned into a wild inferno that could not be stopped. Right in front of Deku's eyes, a flower was burning. Burning to ashes._

 _And even with the blazing fury around it, the fox simply sat. It blinked lazily at Deku , as it's fur caught fire. Eventually, the fox was burnt terribly. It's fur turned ashy black from the flames. Still it sat, staring at Deku. Watching as Deku to burned, along with everything around him._

 _Once the flames had settled, and all that was left of everything Deku had ever cared about was ash, the fox stood, shook itself off, and walked on._


	18. Chapter 17

Slowly but surely, Deku did heal. Day after day. Night after night. It was so monotonous that Deku almost lost count of how long he had been there.

Almost.

He kept count only by remembering how many times he woke up in a cold sweat.

Every night he had the exact same dream, except it slowly got worse. At some point, the screams began. The minute everything set fire, Deku would hear screams of pain and fear, communicating only a paralyzing amount of terror. Then the flames gained faces. Every time Deku stared into the blazing inferno, the tongues of flame wove themselves into the faces of everyone he knew. Uraraka, Iida, Shoto, even All Might. They were twisted into expressions of intense pain, and they were reaching out for help, but there was nothing Deku could do. He was powerless. Just a quirkless loser.

But the worst development was by far the most recent one.

 _Everything was gone. Burnt down to ashes._

 _"It's just a dream. Just a dream. Justadreamjustadreamjustadream." Deku told himself, over and over. He tried to cover his eyes, but of course he couldn't. He couldn't even close his eyes. Nothing could shield him from the horror in front of his eyes._

 _"It's not real. Justadreamjustadreamjustadream." Deku said, feeling himself trembling._

 _"Oh, just a dream, is it?" An unfamiliar voice asked, dripping with venom._

 _Deku tensed. His throat felt dry as he whipped around, only to come face to face with a shadow creature._

 _It was just like the one from the first dream, or, as Deku learned it to be, from his sleep paralysis. Tall, jet black, and vaguely humanoid. He couldn't see any of it's features. They were all swallowed up by the darkness. It's face was disfigured by a sadistic smile, which contained dagger-like teeth stained scarlet with blood._

 _Then it spoke again, it's voice still filled to the brim with malice. "If this is a dream, then answer me this. When you can't contain your flame anymore, what's going to happen?"_

 _A drop of sweat fell down Deku's face. "I don't know what your talking about." He said, trying desperately to grab the deadly calm he felt whenever fighting, but it refused to come to him._

 _The creature cackled. "You have a flame inside of you, Deku. In more ways than you know." The creature's smile broadened, until it was so large that it seemed like it could fall off of the creature's face. "And it's going to burn everyone you know and love alive. When that happens, what is the difference between dreams and reality?" The creature asked, cackling. Slowly it's form seemed to wiggle, like there were bugs crawling around under the creature's skin. It slowly morphed into a more humanoid, much more recognizable shape._

 _Deku was staring at a mirror image of himself._

 _He covered his ears, and began muttering, "Justadreamjustadreamjustadream."_

 _Another cackle answered him, as he watched his own face contort into a sadistic smile._

 _"Justadreamjustadreamjustadream!" Deku yelped, his voice rising with each word._

 _The cackle continued, but it began morphing into words. A voice?_

 _"Midoriya, are you okay? Midoriya? Midoriya!"_

Deku jolted awake. He was drenched in sweat, and he heaved in every breath as if each one would be his last. He was trembling slightly, and it took him a few moments before he realized there was a shadow looming over him.

Immediately he pushed himself away from the shadow, pressing himself against the far side of the bed. The shadow seemed worried by this, and it held it's hands up in a harmless gesture. "Midoriya, it's me!" The shadow whisper-hissed.

Deku froze for a moment, staring at the shadow as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. "Shoto?"

"Yeah."

"W-What're you doing?" Deku asked, forcing his breath to slow down.

"You kept muttering in your sleep. I got worried when you started yelling." Shoto explained placidly.

"Oh..." Deku said sheepishly, his face reddening slightly. _Man, I really do have to stop sleep talking. Maybe I can find some methods to stop that later, but where? There might be some useful ideas online, but I'm not sure I'll be allow-_

"If sleep talking annoys you that much, you might want to stop muttering as well." Shoto observed.

Deku bit his lip, stopping himself from muttering again. His face was burning bright red, though, he desperately hoped that the shadows would hide that. An awkward silence ensued, neither teen knowing what to say.

"So, what was it?" Shoto asked awkwardly.

"What was what?"

"What made you freak out that much in your dream?"

Deku paused for a moment, debating whether to actually tell Shoto or not. Eventually, he decided that he didn't want to worry Shoto, so he smiled weakly and replied, "It was nothing."

Shoto gazed at Deku levelly. He silently raised an eyebrow, then placidly said, "You know, you could just say you don't want to talk about it instead of lying. I won't pry into anything you want to keep to yourself."

Deku paused for a moment, startled. He let loose a gusty sigh, "Am I really that easy to read?"

"No. You're actually much better at lying than most people I know, but no one starts screaming like that over nothing."

Deku laughed, and shot back with, "The fact that you know I'm a good liar means that I'm not."

Shoto smiled warmly. "I suppose you're right. Though, to give you some credit, your tell isn't very noticeable."

"What's my tell?" Deku asked curiously.

"I would tell you, but I have a feeling that that would be a bad idea." Shoto replied, sounding much more grim than before.

Deku went silent for a moment, feeling a little bit hurt. Though, he couldn't really blame him. With his history, lying was seconds nature.

"I'm sorry, did-"

"It's fine. I mean, knowing myself, it's probably true."

* * *

Eventually, Deku was released from the hospital. Though, released was hardly the word Deku himself would use. Release usually meant freedom, but, unfortunately, he wasn't going to get any of that anytime soon.

The pro heroes had shortened his leash. Deku now had to wear an ankle brace, that tracked his location at all times. If he wasn't within a fifty foot radius of a pro hero, or at All Might's house, it would immediately give off a loud, blaring alarm. The same would happen if it was removed incorrectly, or tampered with too much.

On top of that, Deku was a hundred percent sure that they were going to be keeping a much more careful eye on him. Beforehand he had done his best to look like he had no intention of escaping, but there wasn't chance of doing that now.

At this point, escape seemed impossible. Of course, nothing is impossible if you're stubborn enough.

In fact, Deku was already working out a plan to escape. The main problem, though, was that he wasn't entirely sure what he would do once he was free.

He could go after the Cheshire Killer but he had no idea if he was even alive, much less if he had been caught already. After all, being a villain is pretty dangerous. And even if he was still alive, what would Deku even do when he found him? Turn him in? Maybe... kill him?

 _No._ Deku thought. Even the idea of it made him queazy. _I could never do that._

 _But if anyone deserves it, it's him._ He mused. _No! I can't think like that!_

Deku sighed gustily. It was his first night back at his 'home', and he was staring up at the ceiling of his room, listening to the clock slowly ticking. Sleep evaded him, not that he really wanted to sleep anyway. Even if Deku could fall asleep, it would be plagued by nightmares.

He frustratedly sat up, glaring at the wall. _Well, I don't have anything better to do.m_ Deku grabbed his phone, which All Might had provided for him in case of emergency. He turned it on, flinching at the sudden brightness. After a few moments of fumbling with it while he tried to figure out how to look things up on the internet (he had never had a phone before), he eventually managed to get to google and look up 'Cheshire Killer.'

Immediately a wiki article showed up. Deku skimmed through it.

The article first mentioned that the Cheshire Killer was named so because of the mask he wore, which was a surgical mask with a smile drawn on it, resembling that of the Cheshire Cat's from Alice in Wonderland. He was a pretty notorious murder, that was well known for killing twenty eight different people. Of these twenty eight people, twenty five were quirkless. He was caught a few months after he killed Deku's mom, and revealed to be Suimaru Matana.

The Suimaru was a pretty normal person. He had a family, two kids and his wife, and he had a stable job at a local flower shop. His life was pretty good.

Was.

A villain attack near the flower shop caused him to get a concussion. The concussion greatly affected him. He started getting intense mood swings, and would have episodes where he didn't remember what anything did. This caused an extreme strain on Suimaru's marriage, and his wife divorced him. She took the kids with her.

Months went by and Suimaru's condition grew worse and worse. Then, one night, he showed up at his wife's house and killed her. He kidnapped the children, who were later found dead in an abandoned alleyway.

Then he started hunting down quirkless people of all ages. Men, women, children, he didn't care who they were, as long as they were quirkless, they were dead. Until he was caught, very few people had any idea why this was. That is, until a detective managed to connect the dots on the fact that his wife was quirkless.

After Suimaru was caught, he was going to face the death penalty, but, since he was deemed 'unable to comprehend the consequences of his actions' he ended up getting sent to a rehab facility, where he was supposedly beginning to recover.

After some digging, Deku found the address to the rehab facility. It was surprisingly close. Only eleven miles away.

 _Well, I guess there's not much I can do about that then._ Deku thought, but he still couldn't fully banish the idea of revenge out of his mind. This terrified Deku. The fact that he might actually... the thought was left unfinished.

Sighing, he turned the phone off and curled up in bed.

Even if he wasn't going to go after the Cheshire Killer, he was definitely going to get out of there. If Deku stayed with All Might, he would probably never be able to be a hero due to his criminal record. Being a vigilante was really about as close as he was going to get to being a hero.

'"Can't say that's a lifestyle I recommend."' Deku thought, remembering Tsukauchi's words.

"But it's the only lifestyle I've ever known." Deku mumbled into the night.


	19. Chapter 18

_Scratch. Scribble-scribble, scratch._

Deku was working. He was in the nurse's office, being babysat by Recovery girl. Fortunately, she seemed happy enough to leave him alone while he made his way through the math workbook. Deku had already finished half of it.

He idly wondered what class 1-A was doing. Judging by the time, they were probably training with All Might. Deku couldn't attend All Might's classes anymore. In fact, he really wasn't allowed to do much of anything unless there was a pro hero who wasn't too busy with other things to watch him.

As he solved a particularly annoying equation, to which the answer was twenty seven, the bell rang, announcing the start of lunch. Deku paid it no mind, assuming that if All Might wanted to eat with him, he would come to get him.

After he finished a few more problems, Recovery girl walked over to him. She was holding a small, paper bag. "All Might packed you a lunch." She explained. "He's busy right now, but I'm sure he'll eat with you tomorrow."

Deku nodded, silently noting that she didn't tell him why All Might was busy. Not that this was anything new. None of the pros told him much of anything ever since he got back. They didn't trust him anymore.

Recovery girl handed him the paper bag, and seemed to be about to say something else when the door burst open. She went to help the two people that had entered. Deku glanced up from his workbook, happy for the distraction.

The two new people seemed to be polar opposites. One was a pink-haired girl, who was spouting off about how one of her "super-cute babies" overheated and burnt the kid next to her. Just from her posture, Deku could tell she was the type of person to be really loud, and possibly very annoying.

The second person had pale purple hair, and dark bags hanging under his eyes. He seemed to be the person that bubblegum-hair had burnt, judging by the way he was cradling his hand. From what Deku could understand, bubblegum-hair had managed to convince him to help test out some of her machines during lunch, which was when the overheating and burn happened.

As eye-bags got his injury taken care of, bubblegum-hair took notice of Deku. "Oh, you're new! What're you doing here? Wait... you look like All Might's kid! Are you? You are, aren't you? I'm Mei Hatsume, what's your name?" She attacked Deku with a chain of questions, growing closer with each word.

Deku flinched and scooted backwards a little bit. "I-Izuku Midoriya." He replied nervously. "And yeah..." He continued, seeming to shrink. Deku hated it when strangers knew him from the news. It just felt weird having people know more about him than he did about them.

"But why're you cooped up in here?"

"I- I-" Deku stammered, frantically trying to come up with a lie.

"He was feeling a little bit under the weather." Recovery girl covered.

"Don't you have classes to get to?" Hatsume asked, once again scooting closer to him.

"I'm homeschooled." Deku replied quickly, once again scooting farther away from Hatsume.

"Why're you-"

"Hatsume, you're making him nervous." Eye-bags said. He was now sitting on the cot next to Deku while Recovery girl was wrapping gauze around his wrist.

Deku breathed a sigh of relief as Hatsume backed away slightly. "But I'm just so curious, Shinso!" She whined.

"You don't have to get that close to someone to ask them a question." The pureplette, apparently Shinso, retorted tiredly.

"Alright." Hatsume pouted. Then she perked up, "Oh, right! You don't know Shinso! This is Hitoshi Shinso. We're friends!"

"That's... one way to put it." Shinso sighed.

"Oh, come on! If we're not friends, then why did you agree to help test out my babies!"

"Because if I didn't you would pester me about it all day."

"No I wouldn't!"

Shinso only answered with a deadpan glare.

"Okay, maybe I would... but you would brainwash me to stop!"

"That would be extremely unprofessional."

"You would still do it."

Shinso paused for a moment. His mouth opened, as if he was about to argue, then closed. "Alright, I probably would." He grumbled quietly.

Hatsume grinned broadly, and playfully elbowed Shinso in the ribs.

Deku blinked. The two had a certain ease with eachother that he usually only saw with good friends. Having inside jokes, being able to gently piss eachother off without actually getting mad at eachother. Deku idly wondered what it was like to be part of an actual friendship. To have a childhood friend that you had known for years (that didn't want to kill him). Just someone he could talk to and joke around with.

 _Yeah, not gonna happen._ Deku reminded himself. There wasn't a chance of him buddying up with anyone once he escaped, and he didn't really want to get close to anyone beforehand just to disappear out of the blue. Besides, he never did like depending on people. The last time he did that, he ended up alone, with only a belt of knives and a kitsune mask on the streets of Hosu. Definitely not one of his best moments.

Fingers snapping directly in front of his face jerked Deku out of his thoughts. He made an startled, squeaky noise that sounded a lot like, "Ack!"

"You're really spacey, aren't you?" Hatsume giggled, "You're almost as bad as Shinso!"

"Hey! I'm not that bad." Shinso protested halfheartedly. Hatsume silenced him with raised eyebrow, combined with a skeptical glare.

"Nah, Shinso can't be that bad. I would be worried if anyone got lost in their thoughts more than me." Deku defended, giving a nervous laugh.

Shinso cast a strange look towards Deku. Something in between suspicion and concern, but with an underlying theme of I'm-too-tired-to-deal-with-this-shit-right-now. Deku shrank under his tired gaze, which he found to be all too much like Aizawa's face whenever he caught him 'getting lost' in the school (In Deku's defense, half the time he was lost. Okay, maybe a quarter of the time. Possibly a fifth.) Of course, he couldn't really do that anymore. Having an alarm connected to you tended to discourage any escape attempts.

Speaking of which, Shinso's gaze had landed on Deku's leg. Specifically his left ankle. His eyes narrowed, and the look on his face was abandoning the concern, leaning much farther towards suspicious than Deku was comfortable with. Before he had time to question the tracker, Deku swung his legs upward and sat cross legged, blocking the device from view with his other leg.

"So, Hatsume, since you were working in the lab, I assume you're in the support department. Are you also?" Deku asked, gesturing to Shinso and tilting his head as if he was curious. He wasn't really. Honestly, conversing with Shinso seemed about as fun as eating sandpaper, but it was the first idea he had when it came to derailing Shinso's focus from his tracker.

Fortunately, it worked. Shinso stiffened, seemingly startled at being addressed. He blinked for a moment, erasing the temporary confused look he had on his face. "No. I'm in general studies. Hatsume is just someone who happened to take a liking to using me as a test dummy when we visited the support department near the start of the school year."

"Yeah! You should've seen his face he-"

"We are not bringing up the chicken incident again." Shinso growled, swiftly cutting Hatsume off.

"The chicken incident?" Deku asked incredulously.

"Let's just say there was a fire-breathing, mechanical chicken involved and leave it at that."

Deku snorted, and did his best to cover it up with a bout of fake coughing. "Why was there a mechanical kentucky frier?" He said, clearing his throat with a final laugh-cough.

"Hatsume has too much free time." Shinso groaned, as if this explained everything.

Hatsume huffed, "It's not free time! It's working time!"

"No one forces you to build all of those support items."

"But I have to!"

"I'm not saying you have to stop, I'm just saying that when you start getting less sleep than me, it might be time to dial it back a bit."

"You're one to talk! You stayed up till four in the morning last night training!"

Shinso's deadpan expression was broken by a warm blush. "Th-that's different! How did you even know that?"

"Our apartments are right next to eachother. I can hear you all night."

"I'm not THAT loud."

"Yes you are! If I didn't know better I would think there was a zebra loose in your apartment!"

As the two bickered, Deku found himself once again drifting off into his thoughts. _Wait... training? What was Shinso training for? Probably the hero course. After all, tons of people join UA in the general course and move to the hero course. Jeez, how many students do they have? I suppose it would be twenty for every class. How many classes does each department have? I know the hero course has two... and I think the general studies only has one, can't be sure though. Support department might have two. Maybe-_

And suddenly it hit him. Hatsume was in the support department. She had access to the lab.

To most people, this wouldn't be an amazing realization. To Deku though, it was a missing puzzle piece in his escape plan. A plan that, if it could take physical form, would probably be a half-baked potato.

It was pretty simple really. Step one, figure out how to remove an ankle brace without setting off the alarm. Deku could barely operate a phone, much less hack a military grade tracker. Step two, get the tools to do it. The pros barely even trusted him with a fork, much less a screwdriver or hammer. The labs were pretty much Deku's only hope. After that, it was simple. All he had to do was run away. Worst comes to worst, Deku could sneak out through the vents.

So, all in all, it was gonna be as easy as pie. Making pie, that is. Also, it might be worth noting that Deku had never had any experience with baking. Or ovens in general. Or cooking at all.

In other words, this was going to be mildly infuriating.

 _How am I going to learn how the tracker works? The internet might help, but the pros might be monitoring what I look up. Maybe-_

"You really weren't kidding when you said you spaced out a lot." Hatsume commented, tugging Deku out of his thoughts once again.

'Right. Forgot about them. Gotta work on step two while I can.' Deku reminded himself. "Yeah." He mumbled nervously in agreement.

"Why're you so mumbly anyway?" Hatsume asked.

"Oh! S-sorry... I guess it's just a habit. I-I can speak louder if you want. But if-"

"No need to apologize! It's fine!" Hatsume said quickly, casting a worried glance towards Shinso, as if to say, 'help me out here.'

Shinso shrugged. "Yeah, it's fine. We all get kinda mumbly sometimes."

"Like you in class whenever the teacher calls on you?" Hatsume teased, tilting her head in feigned innocence.

Shinso just sighed. "Yes. Like that." He grumbled lowly in response.

Deku laughed, this time less nervously, with a more light tone to it. "You guys just know the best ways to annoy eachother, don't you."

In unison, the two immediately said, "You have no idea." Though, Shinso said it with a more tired edge, and Hatsume with a teasing tone.

Again, Deku laughed. "Man, if I didn't know better I'd say you two were friends. Maybe we could hang out some time?" He said, his voice gaining an uncertain edge toward the end of the statement. He cast a hopeful glance at Recovery Girl, who had finished bandaging up Shinso's hand and began rummaging through the drawers for something, most likely an ice pack.

She pursed her lips, looking worried. After a pause, she shrugged indecisively. "That's for All Might to decide."

Hatsume grinned. "Awesome! Maybe I can show you some of my babies later!" She giggled. Shinso allowed a ghost of a smile to alight his features. He said nothing, but cast a friendly nod in Deku's direction.

Deku smiled, but he felt an ache in his chest. He couldn't help but think, _They might want to be your friends now, but what happens when they find out you're just using them?_

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Deku had gotten both Shinso's and Hatsume's phone numbers, then talked with them until the bell rang again. They had to go to class, leaving Deku with his mathbook in the nurse's office. After what felt like nine thousand math problems, he went home with All Might, who was happy to know Deku had made some friends.

Of course, he had no idea that it was all part of the plan.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I am so, so, so, so sorry about not updatingg in time! I was wrapped up in some personal business, and I had no time to write. But I'm back, alive, and well, with another chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! Also, I might start leaving these at the end of chapters instead of the start. Also, also, I apologize for the story going a bit slowly. I promise it's going to pick up soon. Very soon. *insert evil laugh here* Also, also, also, this book is kind of coming towards a close. There is definitely going to be a few more chapters, maybe more, but I cannot deny that this is approaching the end of the plot I made for this book. Kep word being this book. I might make a sequel. I'll explain more when the book actually ends, but in the meantime, feel free to forcefully throw any questions you have at my tumblr, i-am-a-killed-whale (don't question the weird username). And by questions I mean actual questions and/or questions for the Night Fox. Yes, you can treat it like an ask blog if you want, or not, whatever you want.


	20. Chapter 19

The kid was strange.

Very strange.

He didn't look like much. In fact, he seemed pretty plain. Dark green hair that was slightly curly, and extremely messy. Eyes the exact same shade of green as fake grass, the kind usually found on football fields. He was thin, and didn't seem very muscular. Seemingly shy, judging from the quietness he spoke with. In fact, the most unique thing about him was probably the small peppering of freckles on his cheeks.

But the dullness went no deeper than his skin.

He was constantly moving. Even when he tried to sit still, his eyes darted back and forth constantly, and his head would twitch slightly at the smallest of noises. He was also always nervous. Most would chalk this up to him being shy, but something about it seemed wrong to Shinso. He seemed afraid. Tensing up every time someone moved towards him, scooting just out of reach. It was almost like he thought he was going to be attacked.

And there was also the device on his ankle. It was most likely an ankle monitor, judging from the way it looked. It could've been to measure vitals, but it also could've been to track location. Shinso wanted to ask about it, but Midoriya seemed flustered just by him noticing the device. Which, of course, made the situation all the more suspicious.

It raised a bounty of questions. Why did he have the device? Why was he seemingly embarrassed about it? What did the device actually do?!

Shinso had a few theories, none of which were very cement.

Not that any of that mattered. After all, Shinso had other things to worry about.

"So, whaddaya think?" Hatsume asked, giving Shinso a teasing look.

"About?" He drawled, injecting as much boredom into the statement as he could muster. He tilted his head slightly in Hatsume's direction, causing his hair to bob slightly along with his footsteps. The two were walking down one of the many halls in the school at a relaxed pace, having just finished their classes for the day.

"About what I've been talking about for ten minutes and what you haven't been paying attention to." She shot back, grinning patronizingly.

"I think that I have no clue what you've been talking about for ten minutes."

Hatsume sighed exasperatedly, throwing a dramatic eyeroll in Shinso's direction. "All Might's kid! He was super jumpy, don't cha' think?" She asked.

"Yeah, he was pretty jumpy. But why are you just calling him 'All Might's kid'? He has a name." Shinso pointed out, a slight biting edge to his voice. He silently debated asking Hatsume about the device on his ankle, but before he could, she answered.

"Well, duh! I just thought you might've forgotten it. Y'now, with your social skills being as lacking as they are." Hatsume said, shooting Shinso a cocky smirk.

"Of course I remember his name!" Shinso retorted, his face growing slightly warmer. "It's Midoriya!"

Hatsume snorted. "Wow, you actually bothered to remember his name. I'm surprised." She teased.

"Whu- I- I remember everyone's names!" Shinso protested.

"Name everyone in your class." She shot back, pausing the walk down the hall to put a hand on her hip and raise an eyebrow.

"Uh- um, er..." Shinso mumbled incoherently, freezing in place mid-step. He never really talked to the other students in his class, since he usually silently sat to the side. They never made any attempt to converse to him, so he didn't bother trying to talk to them. Unfortunately, this meant he knew nothing about them.

"That's what I thought." Hatsume quipped, resuming their walk down the hall.

Shinso sighed gustily. "It's not like it's my fault. They don't want to talk to me." He growled.

"Awww, cheer up Shinso!" Hatsume said, shooting a grin in his direction. "Of course they want to talk to you! You just need to talk to them first!"

"Yeah, yeah." Shinso grumbled, waving his hand in a shooing gesture towards Hatsume. "Whatever."

She just grinned more broadly, and lifted her arm to lean on Shinso's shoulder. He simply leaned the other way, effectively dodging her arm. Hatsume stumbled slightly, regained her balance, and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Very mature." Shinso commented, a small smile tugging at the ends of his lips.

Hatsume smirked. "Ha! I got you to smile! Kendo owes me five hundred yen!"

Shinso paused for a moment. "Did you-"

"Yup!"

He sighed in exasperation.

* * *

Meanwhile, Deku was sighing similarly.

He was inspecting the tracker on his ankle. The metal ring was surprisingly thin for what it was, being no wider than Deku's thumbnail. A small screen lay on the front of it. He was told that it would glow red if he was beginning to get too far away from his boundaries. Under the screen, there was a penny sized keyhole. Next to the keyhole and screen was a split in the metal, where Deku assumed the device opened. Two quarter sized speakers sat on the sides of the device. They didn't look like much, but sound was pretty easily amplified to ear-piercing levels with the technology they had at the time. He wouldn't have been surprised if it worked similarly to Present Mic's amplifier in his suit.

Though, he already knew this. What he was trying to find was any screws that he might be able to loosen, or bolt he could remove. Deku had found four screws. They were holding screen to the device, one for each corner of the panel. He pulled at them a few times, but they didn't budge. Deku had snuck a fork into his room from the silverware drawer in the kitchen, and had also attempted to lever them off. This resulted in the bending of a fork.

He had also attempted to find something to pick the lock, a skill he was pretty good at. Unfortunately, he didn't has a paperclip, bobby pin, or anything of the like that he could use to pick the lock. That, and he doubted that his skills were great enough to pick a lock of such high grade. After all, Deku only had experience with basic locks. Mainly door locks, the occasional register that happened to have a keyhole, and a few locks on storage containers in some of the warehouses Deku had hidden in before.

So, he turned to the internet.

The search didn't come up with much. While it was mildly interesting to learn how and why lockpicking actually worked, it wasn't very helpful when it came to higher grade locks.

Another exasperated sigh escaped him as he scrolled through the most recent of twelve articles he had found on lockpicking. Deku was pretty much just skimming it, when a certain paragraph caught his attention.

It mentioned something about breaking and entering in movies, how people would break through the window on a door and open it by sticking their hand through and unlocking it. Deku paused for a moment, an idea slowly beginning to form in his mind. And suddenly, his half-baked potato plan was cooking.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Okay, I have something to confess. I'm throwing the update schedule out the window. School starting has really thrown off my writing time. So now updates are just whenever I can. Sorry for any inconveniences!

Also, I am holding a SPECIAL CELEBRATION! I have recently noticed that this fic has passed the hundred fave mark! In honor of this, I'll be taking writing requests for scenes/situations in the Night fox universe on my tumblr im-a-killer-whale(this is a dot)tumblr(this is a dot)com I can't put links on this site, just replace the (this is a dot)s with .)! I won't do anything smutty (keep it PG-13 please), but some blood and gore, or cursing, is acceptable. Anything that follows the guidelines that I get, I'll try to write an at least 500 word passage for (but I might write more, who knows!). If it takes more than ten days for me to reply to your prompt thing, it probably got eaten by tumblr. Feel free to ask it again.

Anyway, that's it for now! See ya guys!

Edit: Okay, so before my tumblr link formula thing didn't show up for some reason (thanks to the guest that mentioned that, btw), but I fixed it! Sorry if this caused any inconveniences!


	21. ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm sorry

I'm abandoning this fic.

I know this is kind of sudden, and possibly stupid, but I'm abandoning it. I'm also abandoning Fanfiction dot net.

Frankly, this might seem random. Don't worry, I'll continue writing on Archive of our own (TinyTiger28), but this is just what I'm doing.

There are a lot of reasons for this. First and foremost being that my want to write this fic has just kind of... disappeared. I don't know why, and I'm sorry, but it has. Frankly, a good chunk of it is terribly written, and the rest of it is a half-assed plot. I'm really sorry, but this is just something I need to do.

The second reason is that I really just can't do fanfiction dot net anymore. It's really just personal preference, but I just find the AO3 format to be easier to write on. I don't know why, it might have something to do with the fact that fanfiction dot net keeps glitching for me, and that's just annoying to deal with.

The third is that I just don't like this fic. Even readig the first few sentences makes me realize that I ised to (and probably still do) suck at writing. I'm slightly better now, but even so, continuing a fic like this, with a plot that just drives me insane, isn't going to improve my writing. I'm sorry to anyone who was legitimately a fan of the night fox, but this is just how it's ging to end.

At some point I might do a remake of it, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. I'm really sorry, but this is just how it is, and I can't force myself to write something I don't want to write and still have good content.

So, if you're interested, I guess I might see you on AO3, but if not, it's been fun. See ya.


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